


Serious

by trippieseojoon



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gang World, F/F, Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:33:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26982205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trippieseojoon/pseuds/trippieseojoon
Summary: Inspired by Serious by Duran Duran.
Relationships: Kim Bora | SuA/Lee Siyeon
Comments: 32
Kudos: 147





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote it as a SNSD-fic originally, but here we aREEEEE.

Bora glanced at the watch on her wrist. Squinting her tired eyes, she tried to get a glimpse of the time.

_ 1:24 a.m. _

What this guy did in his spare time, she had no idea. It wasn’t too relevant anyway. It was Friday. Lee Sungwoo always stayed out late on Fridays, but he was always home before 2 A.M. That was all that mattered and it was all Bora cared about. She’d been waiting patiently for almost an hour, hidden along the side of the house’s garage. She would’ve much rather been in bed at this hour rather than crouched behind a trash can.

As tired as she was, she was ready. The second she saw the headlights of his car pulling in the driveway, she would make her move. Despite having thought about it all evening, finally confronting Sungwoo still made her smirk in anticipation.

From what she had been told, Sungwoo wasn’t anything special. He was living a typical life for a man of his status. He had a BMW, more suits than casual wear, and spent over ten million won on clothes and entertainment alone every month. He had a girlfriend, probably a few mistresses if Bora knew his type. They were all the same. All of them were just rich, egotistical pretty boys who thought they were above paying rent when it was due. Like most of them, Sungwoo had his demons.

If he hadn’t realized that yet, he was going to tonight.

Suddenly, bright headlights lit up the darkness Bora was in. She peeked around the trash can to see the car parked outside of the garage door, waiting for it to open. She held her place until the car started pulling in. When she started to make her way inside of the garage, she made sure to stay hidden, pressing herself against the wall to keep in the shadows as Sungwoo parked. Once he shut the car off, they were left in darkness. Bora listened to him grumble about something trivial as he got out.

The door slammed shut and Bora didn’t hesitate to reveal herself.

“Lee Sungwoo, yeah?”

“Huh?! Who’s there?”

“Answer the question.” 

She stayed blatant with her demand. She had been through this so many times that it almost felt like she was reading a script. While she was never the writer of these movies, she always knew how they ended. Only excited about getting to the climax, being curt and straight to the point was the only way to make it get there faster.

Hearing him scramble somewhere, Bora just stood still. The garage lit up all of a sudden and her eyes quickly found him. The longer she looked him over, the more obvious his fear became. It had flooded his eyes already. Even if she hadn’t given her intentions away with the pistol that she was holding, he still would have known. She doubted her appearance was a surprise. Having so many connections, targets like him usually got word of when someone was looking for them. 

His terrified expression let Bora know that he was for sure her guy. She always asked as a precaution because, sometimes, her targets would show no emotion at all on the other end of the barrel. She always got reactions to the name question, whether vocal or physical. She preferred to rely on those than her gut. Even though she trusted it, she just really didn’t want to risk killing the wrong person. 

She hated making mistakes.

“You’re not-- I already told Jun I’d give him the cash Monday. It’s just I’ve been too busy to bring it to him! I can-- I can give it to you now if you want.” he insisted in a hushed tone.

“My job isn’t to collect money. You were supposed to have it weeks ago.”

“Please, I swear! I’ll give it to you right now! Is this really worth it? I can just pay you!”

Bora rose her gun, slowly taking aim at his forehead, “I don’t want it.” 

Sungwoo didn’t move. He was frozen in fear. Sometimes, Bora enjoyed when a target fought back or ran away, but she was glad that this was going to be quick. She was tired and cold. All she wanted to do was go home and have a drink in front of her fireplace.

“I have family!” he cried out, finally breaking down. In complete hysteria, he fell down to his knees. Bora’s hand lowered as well. 

“Yeah.”

Before Sungwoo could look up and  _ really  _ waste her time, she pulled the trigger. The silencer on her pistol muffled the sound of a gunshot and, in the blink of an eye, Sungwoo slumped forward. She got a clear view of the wound right between his eyes before he fell. She’d done this more times than she could count at this point in her life, but she still got goosebumps every time the life left her target’s body. She could always hear it. She could always feel it.

It was something she had grown to enjoy, honestly.

Bora stood there, absorbing the new mood of the room, but her peace was interrupted by a whimper.

Her head snapped to the side to see where the noise had come from. Standing there in the doorway that connected the garage to the house was a woman. Tears streaming down her face, her mouth was hanging agape in shock. She looked like she was about to fall out at any moment. Bora just gazed at her, taking note of what her eyes held. She was heartbroken.

Bora drew her gun again and aimed it towards her. This had never happened before. How long had she been standing there? It couldn’t have been that long… right? Judging by the look in her eyes, she’d seen it all.

Was this the girlfriend?

Sungwoo had no sisters. Bora hadn’t received any information about any family living with him, but, then again, she hadn’t received any information about  _ anyone _ living with him. Someone was going to get an earful, maybe more, at HQ. She hadn’t prepared for this.

“Please-- Please don’t!” 

“Who are you?” Bora bought time with the question, unsure of her next move.

“I’m his girlfriend!”

“Do you know why this happened?”

“No! Who are you?! You- You killed him!”

Bora took her word for it. Usually, these guys’ wives or lovers never knew about their  _ hobbies. _

“Are you going to kill me, too?! You-!”

“I don’t want to kill you.” 

“You’re just going to leave…?”

“No, can’t do that.” Bora looked around and noticed that the garage door was still open. She spotted the switch on the wall and went over to press it to close it halfway.

The woman’s voice was trembling, “What are you going to do?”

Bora stayed quiet. She put her gun back in its holster and got down on one knee to search Sungwoo's body. She didn’t think the woman would come and attack her. Bora wasn’t worried either way. The woman was lanky and not much taller than her. She would be able to take her easily. As she searched through Sungwoo’s pockets, she found his car keys, wallet, and some useless things like a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Sitting there, she just stared at the car keys in her hand. She went over her newly formulated plan once more before she accepted that she had no other options. 

She strode over to his BMW as she unlocked it. She started it with no hesitation. When she got back out and headed towards the woman, the woman looked at her with shaking eyes that matched her lips. She began backing up as Bora got closer and ended up tripping over her own feet. 

She fell up the stairs, and Bora reached down to yank her up, “Get up.”

“No!” the woman violently fought to get out of her grasp, “What are you doing?!”

Stumbling even as she escaped, she backed herself up against the wall. They were in the house’s kitchen now.

“I’m only saying this once. Go get a bag. Pack some of your clothes and anything else you think you need. If you don’t do it, I will.”

The woman didn’t move. Bora just rolled her eyes before trekking through the dark house. She found a bedroom down a hallway and rummaged around the huge closet there until she found a bag. She grabbed random clothes off of hangers before leaving. In the dresser, she found underwear and things of that nature. There were shoes near the bed, and, assuming they were the woman’s, she grabbed a pair of sneakers. Before she left, she used a random shirt to wipe down anything she’d touched.

As Bora left the room, she ran into the woman. She almost fell again, but Bora grabbed her shoulders to balance her before rushing back down the hall.

“Come on.” she urged as she went to wait near the door to the garage.

The woman didn’t move. She just stood there, frame trembling in the hallway. Bora could hear her trying to hold back sobs. Hoping the woman would collect herself, Bora used the opportunity to look through the rest of the house. She found the woman’s purse and went through it. She took her wallet. Scanning through the fridge, she took out a few water bottles and put them in the bag as well. The house was huge, but she figured she’d gotten a look at all of the important things. After finding a washrag in the kitchen, she quickly wiped off everything she had touched again. 

Normally, she wore gloves, but leather and cold weather didn’t mix well.

Walking out to the garage, she threw the bag in the backseat of the car. When she hurried back to get the woman, she sighed upon seeing her. The woman was still standing in the hall, pale as a ghost and still crying. Bora grabbed her and started dragging her out without a second thought. As they were going out to the car, the weight Bora was bearing suddenly got a lot heavier. The woman almost took her down with her as she collapsed. Bora pulled her up in her arms before she hit the cement. Carrying her, she managed to open the backseat door with her in tow. 

_ At least she isn’t crying anymore,  _ Bora thought as she put her in the car. 

Stepping over the almost forgotten corpse, she turned off the garage light and wiped it down with the rag she’d taken. She did the same with the garage door switch. Once in the car, she backed out of the place as fast as she could. Before she pulled out onto the street, she pressed the garage door button on the keys to close it back.

With that and a grimace on her lips, she zoomed off into the night.

_ What a pathetic excuse for a luxury car. _


	2. Chapter 2

Bora sighed in satisfaction as the scent of black, hazelnut coffee filled her nostrils. She had spoiled herself, not only using the biggest mug she could find to hold her drink, but by also having spiked it with a little bit of Amaretto. Coffee in hand, warm flannel pajamas, and her fireplace crackling in front of her— she felt at ease. She didn’t normally sit on the floor right in front of it, but she had the huge fur rug there for a reason. She’d decided to take advantage of it for the night. 

She glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall and held in a sigh. It was almost four in the morning. On a normal day, she would’ve been asleep at this hour. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had pulled an all-nighter. She’d never been the type to pass up the opportunity to sleep. She had been that way even in high school. Her friends had always made fun of her for leaving a party before midnight, but what could she have said? She needed her sleep. She’d known that from a young age.

Bora had known a lot of things from a very young age. Like, for instance, she had known that people only ever acted in self-interest. She’d known not to ever trust anyone too much. Not all secrets were bad. Many things were better left left unsaid. She had known that adults weren’t as invincible as they seemed to be. She’d known that not all boys had cooties, not like that had ever really mattered to her anyway. Life wasn’t fair. A person’s thoughts and feelings didn’t make them who they were, not entirely at least. She had known that the line between good and evil was a very thin one. But most importantly, she’d known that good and evil were things that a person could only define for themselves.

She knew even more things now that she was older, like how to make a mean stir-fry.

For the most part, she had a normal childhood. Her parents took care of her and her younger sister with as much love and respect as they could’ve given them. In school, she’d been an exceptional student. School had been a breeze. With a high IQ, there wasn’t much that she had struggled with academically. She hadn’t been a genius of course, but she had most certainly been the smartest in her class every year. She hadn’t struggled socially, either. She’d been sixth, seventh, _and_ eighth grade president in middle school. In high school, she’d been voted homecoming queen twice. Everyone had loved her.

It was after she’d graduated high school when things started heading south. At least, that was what her sister insisted. Her parents hadn’t been aware of any of it— she moved out as soon as she’d turned eighteen. Bora had done well for herself. Working all throughout high school, she’d saved enough money to rent her first apartment with her best friend, Minji. Life had always been good to her, even with Minji being her friend.

Bora had known of her drug habits from the start. She’d never been an addict or anything. More like a drug acquaintance, Bora liked to joke. She had even joined in on the fun sometimes. There was a lot more fun going on on the _business_ side of things, though. They’d both realized that early on. Minji had gone from using to selling and eventually found a solid place in Seoul’s drug scene. Bora had followed. After becoming Minji’s partner in crime, they’d not only started their own ring, but their ring had also taken over the spot as the city’s number one underground drug supplier.

Having the title proved to be more of a disadvantage than advantage, however. The more people who knew their names, the more dangerous it was to exist. They had more concerning threats than the police or government. Unexpected ambushes by rival gangs happened all the time.

Nowadays, the ring was of substantial size. Minji was a business woman, a damn good one at that. She’d wanted Bora to run things by her side, but Bora had insisted on doing a _different_ type of work. After a shootout with a rival gang, Bora had realized her niche. She enjoyed serving justice when it called. Having the power to take away a person’s life gave her an elevated feeling that, for some reason, didn’t scare her as much as it should have. The ring had constant problems with people ripping them off and cheating them out of their deserved pay, so Bora figured being a hitman was a reasonable position to request.

It became her job, and she loved every second of it.

When she’d told her sister about it, having no choice but to explain why she had several guns sitting on her kitchen island one evening, she’d broken a bond that had really never been there in the first place. Jieun had always worried about her for no reason, so scaring her away had been for the best. It had been years since they last talked… For all Bora knew, Jieun was married and pregnant with her second child by now.

  
  
She didn’t wonder about it too much.

A thump from the floor above her brought Bora out of her relaxed state. She didn’t move right away. Hearing another nosie made her sigh. Putting her almost empty mug down on the small table behind her, she got up to go see what the racket was about.

Her house was spacious. With several hallways, two floors, and over eight rooms— the house was unnecessarily big for just one person. 

She took her time walking upstairs. The hallway to the bedrooms was dimly lit. When she got to the right room, she almost knocked. Feeling foolish, she opened the door and walked in without a second thought.

Her eyes fell upon the woman who was on her knees next to the bed. She was sobbing. She had been passed out for almost two hours but had somehow woken back up in the exact same condition as before. Bora felt her brow twitch. Sighing, she went over to her. She pulled her up off of the ground and sat her back on the bed. At least this time the woman didn’t fight against her.

“Do you feel okay?” Bora wondered. She wasn’t sure if she was trembling because she was upset or because she was ill. She had passed out, but it wasn’t rare for people to do that in overwhelming situations.

The woman kept her hands covering her face and just continued to cry.

Bora just sighed in annoyance as she left her behind to go back downstairs. When she came back up, she had a glass of water with her.

“You should probably drink something.”

After holding it out for what seemed like forever, she finally gave up and just laid it on the nightstand next to the bed.

“I’ll be downstairs if you need me. Try to get yourself together.”

She got to the stairwell when she heard the loud sound of shattering glass.

_Great._

Bora went back and began with a calm tone as she pushed the door back open, “Hey, don’t go breaking—”

“Who do you think you are?!”

Bora stayed silent, knowing that she had more to say.

“How am I supposed to get myself together?! You killed my boyfriend and you kidnapped me! You’re probably going to kill me too!” she shrieked, “You’re a murderer! You—!”

“I didn’t kidnap you and I’m not going to kill you.” Bora cut her off, unaffected by her outburst.

“Are you going to let me go?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, you kidnapped me!” she cried, her sobs starting to get the better of her.

“To steal, carry off, or abduct by force or fraud… That’s the definition of kidnap. You were unconscious when we left, so I most certainly did _not_ kidnap you. I didn’t trick you, either. If anything, I helped you.”

“You didn’t give me a say at all!”

“You were comatose.”

The woman let out a frustrated cry before sitting back down on the bed. Bora wondered how she had any tears left. She was sure that her throat was on fire. Yet, she was still wailing like a child. 

Deciding it would be best to let her collect herself on her own, Bora went back downstairs. It wasn’t until she was in the kitchen that she heard the loud, shattering sound of what was probably the lamp near the bed or, even worse, the mirror hanging up on the wall. She held back a groan and just took a deep breath. She found her cellphone and went through her contacts.

“What went wrong?” Minji immediately asked as she picked up the call.

Bora never contacted her after a job unless there were complications. If all things went well, she would just report to base the next day and talk to her about it then. She cringed as she heard another loud noise echo through the house. Although this wasn’t exactly a normal complication, it was a complication nonetheless.

“His girlfriend was in the house. She lived with him.”

“So, you killed them both?”

A crashing sound shook the walls this time.

“I wish I had.” 

“You didn’t? What did you do with her?”

“She’s currently upstairs in one of the guest rooms. I didn’t want to kill her, but I couldn’t leave her there. I was going to take her to you right after I finished up, but she passed out.”

Another crash.

“You’re going to bring her in later then, I’m assuming?”

“Yeah. I want to talk to whoever was staking out his place for me, by the way.” Bora made her irritation obvious. Not only were they going to get an earful, but they were also going to get their checkbook out and write a check for all of the damages the woman was causing. 

The next sound of destruction shook her frame.

“What was that…?” 

She sighed, already knowing, “My Chinese cabinet…”

“Isn’t it a little late to be moving stuff around?”

“It’s a little too late for me to even be awake right now.”

“That’s for sure. I should be asleep right now as well.”

Bora let a smile take her lips, “I’ll see you later.”

“Goodnight! You can bring the girl and collect your payment whenever. Aside from the interruption, I’m assuming _that_ part went smoothly?”

“Of course.”

“Good. That bastard was a weasel.”

She bid Minji farewell again before hanging up the phone. She wanted to get a few hours of sleep before she had to start her day at nine o’clock. The continuous noise coming from upstairs was already proving it would be impossible, however.


	3. Chapter 3

Bora woke up from her nap-length slumber to go take a shower and down more coffee, resisting the desire to mix it with Amaretto again. She wasn’t for sure, but she swore things calmed down relatively soon after her phone call with Minji. Things were a bit fuzzy, as she’d drunk some more before bed. Sleeping on the couch downstairs had helped keep the noise away. Though, her main reason for staying there had been to keep watch on the front door.

Bora did everything she had to do to get ready for her day before going to check on her _guest,_ just in case of seemingly inevitable complications.

She was curled up in a ball, fast asleep over the blankets on the bed. Bora studied her from the doorway. This was really the first time she’d gotten a chance to get a good look at her. She was beginning to assume that the woman was just naturally pale. Her long, black hair was covering her face. In just sweatpants and a large sweater, she had thrown her shoes off at some point. Bora scanned the room for them. That was when she realized it.

The room was trashed. Every standing piece of furniture was now on the ground. There was glass everywhere from the mirror, light bulbs, and picture frames. The curtains from the window near the bed had been ripped down. The entire room was in ruins. Bora’s blood boiled as she took in the scene before her. The cap on her anger took a second before doing its job. 

She’d been wanting to redecorate anyway.

Carefully, she tiptoed over the mess. She reached down and shook the woman by her shoulder. She just grumbled a bit and rolled on her back. Bora watched as her eyes fluttered open.

_They’re as dark as her hair,_ she noticed. 

The woman’s eyes widened as she realized where she was and who was looking down at her. She shot up and pushed herself back against the headboard. 

“Please, don’t hurt me!” she begged, voice cracking.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You have to get up. We have to go.”

“Go…? Where?”

“If you want to change clothes, just look in that bag over there. That’s where I packed some of your stuff. Be careful walking around, there’s a lot of glass.” Bora warned with a quiet voice before making her way back towards the door, “Try and hurry.”

She went downstairs to find her shoes. She hoped that the woman planned on dressing for the weather like she had. She was wearing her favorite black sweater with a peacoat over it, some simple dark jeans, and her work boots opposed to regular sneakers. If there was anything positive about winter, it was nice winter clothes.

Bora turned her attention to the stairwell when soft footsteps hit her ears. The woman hadn’t changed clothes and it took Bora a moment to realize why. Bora’s focus was immediately drawn to the mass of red that had stained her sweater. She had the end of her sleeve wrapped around her left hand.

“It started bleeding again… I— I don’t know what to do.” 

She flinched as Bora yanked her back upstairs. She shoved her into the bathroom and ignored sniffles as she searched through medicine cabinets to find what she needed.

“Can you clean it yourself?” she asked, holding out hydrogen peroxide and bandage. The woman just gazed at her with tears in her eyes. Bora got her answer without her even speaking, “Of course not.”

“It’s gonna sting…” she mumbled as Bora pulled her sleeve up, revealing the mass amount of open wounds on her hand. She had done just as much damage to herself as she had the bedroom.

Bora held her hand out over the sink and, without warning, poured peroxide all over it. The yelp that hit her ears made her tense up. The woman tried to pull her hand back as soon as the liquid hit it, but Bora held it firmly. Her struggle stayed relentless. When she finally started to calm down, Bora reached over to the towel rack and grabbed a washcloth. She dabbed her hand lightly, not wanting to disturb the cuts even more. She let go of her wrist, which was now shaking along with the rest of her body, and began prepping the bandage.

“Try to hold still.” 

The woman let out a whimper here and there while she worked. When Bora finished, she smiled.

“You know, I could say that you deserved this. If you never would’ve thrown a tantrum, you never would’ve injured yourself.” Bora pointed out as she put everything away, “But I’m not that callous.”

The woman’s gaze was blank, her hazy eyes not saying much at all.

“Please, don’t pass out again…” Bora begged.

She was already gone.

Bora caught her as she stumbled forward. She peered over her limp body to check her watch. They really needed to leave. She hated getting stuck in traffic. With that in mind, she carried her back to the bedroom and ignored the glass crunching under her feet. She laid her down on the bed before grabbing the bag that had her belongings in it. She pulled out another sweater, but froze when her wallet fell out. She opened it to search for an I.D. 

_Lee Siyeon._

Siyeon’s sweatpants weren’t stained with blood or anything, so she figured those were fine.

After changing her clothes, Bora just threw her over her shoulder and went downstairs. She went to her garage and scowled at the BMW that was sitting there. She would get someone to bring her car back at some point during the day, just as she would also get someone to get rid of _that_ piece of junk. Walking right past it, she unlocked the doors to her second car. Though it wasn’t as fast as her Aston, it was still decent. Far better than Sungwoo’s. 

She put Siyeon in the passenger seat and buckled her up before running back inside to grab her handgun and its holster. 

Bora jumped upon getting in her seat as Siyeon spoke.

“Where… Where are we going?”

“Nowhere important.” Bora, a bit sore over the fact that she had caught her off guard, mumbled.

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you…?”

“I already told you. That’s not going to happen.” 

“Then, what is?”

“You’ll find out.”

“Can’t you just tell me?”

Bora didn’t respond, hoping Siyeon would quiet down.

“I— I don’t want to die…” her voice cracked as she began crying _again._

“Does your throat not hurt?!”

Siyeon’s crying became softer after she raised her voice. It appeased Bora undeniably, but then another noise filled the car. She would’ve ignored it, but it happened again. She eyed Siyeon as her stomach growled once more. Noting what part of town they were in, she sighed before making an abrupt detour. Before Siyeon could comprehend what was going on, they were in a McDonald's drive-thru.

“Yeah, can I get a number four with a large Coke, please?”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After getting the food from the window, she just tossed the bag over to her.

“Eat.”

Bora was surprised when she heard the unwrapping of a burger. For once, Siyeon was actually complying with her.

Bora decided to drive the speed limit so she had time to eat. Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic. A satisfied smirk appeared on her face as she listened to Siyeon munch away over the quiet hum of her coupe. It didn’t take them too long to get to base. She noticed Siyeon looking around with curious eyes, sipping on her Coke, as they pulled up behind the once abandoned laundry factory.

“Where are we…?”

“You’ll see.”

Bora shut off the car and got out to open Siyeon’s door.

“Come on.” she insisted as she walked towards the entrance.

She heard her scrambling to catch up, but she continued to head into the building. The main lobby was empty, except for Taemin. He was the lookout that was always stationed in the front of the door leading to the rest of the base. He gave Bora a confused look rather than his usual.

“She’s with me.”

He took a moment, probably trying to guess what was going on, before he nodded and let them through. Bora let out an aggravated sigh as she felt other people’s eyes on her and her “plus one.” It was a rare thing to bring in an outsider unless they were tied up, gagged, or restrained in some form or fashion. She couldn’t have gotten to Minji’s office fast enough. She held the door open for Siyeon and then pushed her forward.

“Here she is.”

“Did you do something to her?” Minji, who was sitting at her desk, asked with a nod towards her bandaged hand.

“She messed herself up pretty bad when she passed out.” 

Bora was unsure of what was going to happen to her. So, she lied. She didn’t want to give Minji the impression that she was trouble. Though, Siyeon had been the living definition of the word so far.

“Right. I guess we’ll put her with the group working on Tier One until we figure something out. It’d be too risky to kill her so soon after Sungwoo.”

“Kill me? I—”

“Do you want me to bring her to tier one?” Bora offered, “I’ll give her and the others the lowdown.”

“Sure. Come back when you’re done and I’ll pay you.”

Bora grabbed Siyeon by the back of her collar and pulled her out of the office. She led her through the huge hallways and down flights of stairs until she found the door that led to the place. Tier one was mostly made up of people who had messed up a deal or had done something to make their capability doubtful. 

“You haven’t proven it to me yet, but I do believe that you’re capable of listening to instructions. You’re gonna be staying here for a while working. It won’t be anything too complicated. You won’t be out on the streets or anything, don’t worry.” Bora explained as they came to two huge factory doors.

She led her through the rows of non-working conveyor belts. All of the guys around looked particularly bored. All of their eyes widened when they saw who Bora was with. She paid no mind to it as she led Siyeon to a small office room in the back where they kept their belongings. 

“What is this place…?”

“Drugs. We deal drugs.” Bora grumbled, hoping that was enough to answer all of her questions.

“Drugs? Then, why did you kill my boyfriend?”

“He owed us money.”

“For what?!”

She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“Does anything about your boyfriend really matter anymore? He’s dead.”

Not even three seconds after, Siyeon broke out into tears. Before Bora could say or do anything, Siyeon shied away from her to start bawling even harder. Bora watched the pathetic display in front of her for a moment before walking out back into the main room.

Spotting the scrawny boy immediately, Bora called for him, “Xiao!”

“Yeah?”

“That girl in there...” she pointed towards the back room, “When she stops crying, explain to her what she has to do. Don’t even acknowledge her until she stops crying, because otherwise she won’t.”

“Where’d she come from?”

“It’s irrelevant. She’s not going to be here long, anyway. If you have any trouble, just find me or Minji.”

“Alright.”

“You all better look a lot more busy the next time I come down here!” she yelled to everyone else in the room as she turned to leave.

As she left, a strangled scream escaped through the doors before they fell shut.

“Don’t leave me—!”

Bora just shook her head, unsure about whether to feel sorry for Siyeon or relieved that she was finally unattached from her hip.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: rape

“I have another target for you, but I want to give it a little more time before we collect.”

Bora gave Minji a shrug before sitting back in her chair some, “Fine by me. I don’t mind having a break.”

“I’d ask what you do with your spare time these days, but I have a pretty good guess already, Sleeping Beauty.”

“You know it.” 

“I wish I could take a break from here every once in awhile. I feel like I take my work home with me far too often. Mina isn’t very fond of it.”

“Mina isn’t very fond of a lot of things you do.”

“It’s not like I’m forcing her to be with me.” Minji let her head rest against a few fingers as she put her elbow on her desk, “I treat her well and accept her in every way. If she doesn’t want to do the same for me— that’s her problem, not mine.”

Who was she trying to convince? The side of Bora’s lips threatened to curve up as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Minji didn’t fool her. She knew the mess that she’d become if Mina ever left her. Minji’s entire world revolved around that woman. It was no secret, unlike how thoughtful and caring she was. Bora knew, but not many others did. To the rest of the crew, she was an intimidating, mysterious force to be reckoned with. Even though she most certainly was, as her best friend, Bora knew there was more to her than that.

“Oh, by the way…” Minji’s serious demeanor disappeared and a smile erupted across her lips, “There’s a rumor going around that you and Jaesung—”

“I don’t want to know.”

Just hearing his name annoyed her.

Minji didn’t even try to hide her amusement, “I mean, I’m assuming since you were there, you already know that you had sex with him. Was it that bad?” 

“Is that what’s going around this time? I bet he started it himself.”

Bora let her head fall back and groaned. Jaesung was obsessed with her. It was hard to deal with him properly because she always had the strong desire to blow his brains out whenever he was near. Minji probably wouldn’t appreciate her doing so, as Jaesung was one of their best dealers. He was charming, had a way with words, and had plenty of connections. As disgusting as he was, he was perfect for the job.

“He’s late with this week’s reports, by the way. Do you wanna go get them?”

“I got it.”

Her real intentions of confronting him had a cover-up now. If anyone asked why she punched him in the face, she could say it was because he wasn’t doing his job right. Heading to tier three, she hoped her annoyance showed as she entered the room.

“Where’s Jaesung?” 

Kwangsoo spoke up, “He went to One.”

“What?”

“Said Chulsoo had something for him.”

Now, she was even more annoyed. Although it wasn’t a rule, others knew that straying away from their designated place wasn’t the best idea. Around here, if someone got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time… It was something that no one wanted to risk.

Trying to think of why Jaesung would have any business down at tier one, she made her way back there.

“Shit. Hey, guys!” someone near the door hissed as soon as she entered. His warning had been a bit too late. Bora’s eyes darted around. Several people were missing. Hearing noise coming from the small office, she didn’t hesitate to head over. 

When she walked in, the sight her eyes landed upon made her blood boil within a second.

Two guys tried to go past her and escape, but she pushed each of them back. Despite the two in front of her, her gaze focused on Jaesung. He was sitting on the desk with his pants around his ankles. It took Bora a moment to take notice of Siyeon’s naked body that was now on the ground. Her sobs made Bora’s ears hurt. 

“It wasn’t our idea. Jaesung was just making us keep watch.” Xiao, one of the attempted escapees, cautiously explained. 

He was slowly backing away, but he stopped moving when Bora’s fist connected with his face. Not caring about the other one who managed to run past her, she went straight for Jaesung. As he was trying to pull his pants back up in haste, she grabbed him and tossed him up against the wall with as much force as she could muster.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” 

“Calm down. We—!”

His nonchalant tone had made Bora knee him in the stomach without a second thought.

“Shut up.”

“Hey, you asked!” he coughed, “We were just having some fun with the new girl.”

Bora glared at him with eyes ready to kill as a faint smile took his lips.

“You can join in if you want.” 

With that, Bora drew her pistol and brought the handle to the side of his head as hard as she could. He fell limp instantly. Bora didn’t hesitate to slam her knee into his face as his body fell to the ground; She stopped counting after five. The desire to see him bleed was all she could think about. The hand holding her gun was itching with the urge to shove the barrel against his head and pull the trigger. 

She wanted to kill him.

She was _going_ to kill him.

“Bora!”

She heard the voice, but kept going. Hands gripped her shoulders from behind and roughly pulled her away. As soon as she regained her balance, she aimed her gun right at Jaesung’s disgusting face. She yelled in protest as her weapon got taken from her. Someone shoved her and Bora was ready to hit them right back. When her eyes met Minji’s, she froze.

“Calm down.” 

Breathing raggedly, Bora looked around. It took a second for her to realize what the situation had come to. Xiao was gone. Siyeon had pushed herself up against the wall and had her knees up to her chest with her face buried in them. She was still sobbing.

“Hey.” Minji grabbed her in an effort to try and get her attention, “Bora—”

Bora shook free of her grip, “Let go of me.”

She went straight to Siyeon and tugged on her arm. Eyes flooding with fear met her own as she pulled her up off the ground. Bora took off her coat and put it completely around her before picking her up. Siyeon yelped in surprise as she was lifted up off of the ground, but otherwise stayed silent as Bora carried her out of the room, up the stairs, and all the way out of the building. She didn’t put her down until she was safely in the car.

For once, Bora didn’t care about the speed of her car as she zoomed out of the parking lot. At least she was moving.

She was in her own world as she sped through the streets. The steering wheel was at risk of snapping under her grip. Far beyond tense, she tried to focus on calming herself down. It was risky to drive so fast in such a state. It was hard to resist the urge to just slam down on the gas pedal and keep going until she hit something. Despite the anger she had unleashed on Jaesung, she was still filled with rage.

Before she knew it, they were parked outside of her garage. She sat there with her eyes closed, determined to collect herself. When she started to feel normal again, she noticed how quiet the car was. Wondering if she was so used to Siyeon’s crying that she had begun to tune it out, she looked over to the passenger seat.

She was met with two, wide eyes staring at her. For once, they were tear-free. Red and puffy, yeah, but tear-free.

“Are you okay?” Bora muttered, surprised that she wasn’t in tears.

“I… I—” she bit her lip and struggled to hold back the tears that Bora was looking for, “I’m okay.”

“Did they hurt you?”

“It was just him.”

Her hoarse and broken voice made Bora’s agitation come back full force. If she hadn’t had a reason to want Jaesung’s brains splattered all over the place before, she definitely did now. She’d never wanted to maim someone so much in her life. Bora hoped that she had caused permanent damage to him. The pain hadn’t hit her until they’d gotten closer to home, but her knee was on fire. She was certain it was swollen. 

Yet, she still believed that she could have done more to him. She should have.

Siyeon cleared her throat, taking Bora out of her trance, “Are _you_ okay?” 

“Let’s go inside.”

She would have to leave later anyway, so Bora left her car parked outside. Siyeon had completely buttoned up the coat at some point, but she still kept her arms wrapped around her body as they walked to the house. Bora guided her inside. Even after she had closed and locked her front door, Siyeon had still been standing under her.

“You can go sit in the living room.”

As if her words had lagged, Siyeon stood still for another moment. As soon as she started to walk off towards the room, Bora went to the kitchen. Pulling out a bottle of whiskey from her alcohol cabinet, she poured herself a glass before going to join Siyeon. Sitting in the loveseat across from her, Bora studied her. All she had left was her shoes. She looked nothing short of frazzled. 

It was then that Bora realized that her anger was pointless. It was over now. Siyeon obviously needed her focus and attention.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I need to know as precautionary measure…” Bora kept her voice low, “How long had he been taking advantage of you?”

“He had just started… not too long before you came in.”

“So, he didn’t…?” Bora hoped she would understand what she was getting at, but it didn’t seem like she was going to. So, she tried to keep it from sounding vulgar, “He didn’t finish, did he?”

Siyeon shook her head.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry I put you in that situation. I had no idea that something like that would happen.”

Siyeon seemed confused by her words. Whether it made sense or not, Bora felt like an apology was due.

“I’ll pull some more clothes out for you and you can go take a shower.” Bora muttered before downing her small glass of alcohol in one go. Trying to put what had happened behind her, she made her way upstairs. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. 

She heard a faint voice call to her as she was grabbing a new set of clothes out of Siyeon’s bag, “Um…?” 

When Bora met her in the bathroom, she was greeted with a pair of confused eyes.

“How do I turn it on?” 

Sighing, Bora put her clothes on the closed toilet seat cover before turning the shower on.

“This one is cold water. That one is hot. Adjust it how you like.” she said, motioning towards each handle. 

When Bora left and closed the door behind her, she felt a strong sense of relief. Now, she had time to herself to think about what she was doing to do. She hadn’t really come up with a plan in the car at all due to her anger, but she had to figure out what she was going to do with Siyeon. All she knew was that bringing her back to headquarters wasn’t going to happen. Bora wasn’t comfortable with that at all.

Giving her to Minji was a possibility, but there would be no telling of her fate after that. Minji would probably end up putting her back to work in a different part of the building, despite Bora’s wishes. Minji selling her or trading her was highly likely as well. There was no way Siyeon would be able to handle such a thing and who knew whose hands she’d end up in. None of it sat well with Bora at all, especially the thought that kept insisting it be noticed in her mind.

There was nothing she could do. 

Siyeon was her responsibility now. Actually acknowledging the fact, Bora’s eyes became wide. She racked her brain for a solution, another idea. Nothing else sensible came to mind. There were no other options at the moment. For the time being, she was going to have to watch over her.

She was hers and there was nothing Bora could do about it.


	5. Chapter 5

Bora had been out cold on the couch until a light tap on the shoulder brought her out of her slumber with a jolt. As she sat up, she lunged out and grabbed Siyeon’s arm and almost pushed her away. Siyeon’s eyes were wide with fear.

“Sorry.” Bora apologized as she released her grip.

Her hazy vision starting to get clearer, she noticed the clothes Siyeon had put on. She hadn’t even paid attention to what she’d grabbed from the bag earlier. Her hair was still a bit damp. For once, she looked normal. There was still shock in her eyes and Bora felt a bit bad that she’d scared her.

“I’m not going to take you back there.”

“You—You’re going to let me go?” 

“No.”

“I promise I won’t go to the police. I can forget this ever happened. I swear, I—!”

“Stop.” Bora cut her off. She could already tell where the conversation was heading. She was more than sick of her crying fits, “It’s not happening. I’m not an idiot, you know.”

“I swear I won’t tell anyone!”

Bora didn’t hold back a single word, “You say that now, but okay. Let’s say I did let you go and you kept your word. Where would you go exactly? You most certainly wouldn’t go back to your boyfriend’s house. You couldn’t. If anyone cared about him, someone would’ve noticed his disappearance by now. In fact, the police are probably trying to put two and two together as we speak. There’s no way you can go back there.”

“You could go to your mother’s, your friend’s— At some point, you’d end up getting contacted by the police. Since you were his lover, they’d obviously want to question you. You’d be a prime suspect. You wouldn’t last a minute in interrogation.”

“Even if you somehow miraculously got away with lying to the police, you would still be stuck because now you have nothing.” she bluntly gesticulated, “So, tell me why on  _ Earth _ I would let you go? I’m not just thinking about my own benefit here.”

Bora could tell she’d hit the nail right on the head. Siyeon was having trouble holding back tears.

“I’m not going to take you back to bass because you’re not safe there. I’m not letting you go because, well, I’m not an idiot. So, I guess now you can say I’m kidnapping you now.”

“What?”

“You’ll be staying with me until I come up with a better solution on how to deal with you. You’ll be safer with me—”

“Safe?! With you?!”

Bora rose a brow, taken aback by her outburst.  _ This is going to be good,  _ she thought as she took note of the sudden fire in Siyeon’s eyes.

“You’re a murderer! How will I be safe with you?! You killed Sungwoo over something so stupid. How do I know you won’t randomly decide to kill me? I bet you’ve already thought about it!” she cried, “I want nothing to do with you!”

“Over something so stupid…” Bora echoed, her brow furrowing, “What did I kill him over?”

“You killed him over some stupid drugs! Does it really matter if just  _ one  _ person doesn’t pay you?! Did you really lose that much money over him?”

“I thought you said you didn’t know why I did it.” 

She’d possessed a hunch before that Siyeon wasn’t as completely clueless as she made out to be. She’d been feigning innocence the whole time. The guilt that started flooding her eyes let Bora know everything she needed to know.

She could hear the gears turning in Siyeon’s head as she tried to think of some type of excuse, “I— You mentioned it—”

“How long had you been standing in that doorway?”

There was no way Siyeon would’ve been so angry if she didn’t know more. Even though Bora had mentioned things here and there, it definitely hadn’t been enough information to get a reaction like this.

“I heard… I heard you two in the garage when I was in the kitchen, but I didn’t know you were going to kill him.”

“Did you know he had a drug problem?” 

“Yes.”

Bora couldn’t hold back a small chuckle as Siyeon let her head fall.

“You let your boyfriend get shot right in front of your eyes and you cried over it as if I’d forced you to stand there and watch.”

“You had a  _ gun _ ! There was nothing I could do!”

Siyeon’s shriek had been like thunder. Not even a second after it, tears started to fall from her eyes as fast as rain fell during a storm. Bora wasn’t sure if she was trembling out of anger or sadness. 

“If I didn’t have to kill him, I wouldn’t have. It’s—”

“I loved him!”

Bora studied her for a long time before she finally spoke.

“No, you didn’t.”

She waited for Siyeon to cry out in rage again, but nothing happened. She just stood there, glaring at her with almost murderous eyes. Bora hadn’t been prepared at all for what happened next.

Without any warning, she felt a hard, sharp pain across her left cheek. The sound of the slap echoed in her ears. Despite how it made her temper flare, Bora didn’t move. She couldn’t. Keeping her head turned, she could barely even absorb the situation. For such a scrawny person, Siyeon had mustered up a lot of force behind the slap.

“Who do you think you are?!” she hissed.

Bora finally met her gaze again, but she stayed as still as a stone. Fear had set in Siyeon’s angry eyes and Bora was tempted to make it even stronger. However, she didn’t have a chance to. Siyeon stormed off in an instant. After heading upstairs, the loud slam of a door echoed throughout the house. Bora took a deep breath before she sighed.

It was better to just shake it off. Her reaction wasn’t completely nonsensical. She was in denial. Not only that, but Bora was sure that Siyeon was taking her guilt out on her. Rubbing her palm up against her still stinging jaw, she froze as her phone started to ring. She stood up and stretched some before hunting it down.

Minji’s hardened voice filled her ear as soon as she answered, “I took care of them. Turns out that wasn’t the first time this has happened.”

“Good.” Bora muttered, ignoring the fact that she felt a bit disappointed about not having been able to take Jaesung out with her own hands.

“How’s the girl?”

“I’m not bringing her back there.” she tried to sound casual, but she knew what kind of crucial conversation she was starting, “She’s going to be staying with me.”

“Do you know how risky keeping someone hostage is? There’s a reason we don’t do that, Bora. You need to bring her back here. I’d say kill her, but, like I said, it’s still too soon.”

“Well, I’ll keep her until we can get rid of her then. She’s staying with me, though.”

Minji sighed. Silence took over the line for a moment before she finally uttered, “Fine. I trust you. If she somehow escapes, you’re fucked. You’ll have to keep an eye on her and control her at all times. It’s serious.”

“I’m not worried about her escaping. When I told her she was going to stay with me, she yelled and stormed off upstairs…” a smirk took Bora’s lips as Minji laughed, “I doubt I’ll have to worry much.”

“Well, keep me updated. You don’t need to come back today, unless you want to supervise.”

“I think I’ll take a nap instead.”

“Of course.” 

After hanging up and taking a look at the time on her cellphone, Bora frowned.

The day wasn’t even halfway over yet.


	6. Chapter 6

When it came to things outside of work, at twenty-six years old, Bora felt like she’d experienced enough.

She’d stopped caring about her social life a long time ago. Aside from the fact that it was dangerous having friends outside of the ring, she just really saw no point in it. She didn’t need others by her side in such ways. She preferred being on her own. She’d been through the friend drama, the girlfriend drama, the family drama, and everything else in-between. The thought of it all gave her a headache.

Without a second thought, she cut off all of her friends when she’d joined the ring. It gave her a sense of relief knowing that she wouldn’t be bothered by the childish antics most people her age tended to be a part of. She had even eventually cut off her girlfriend. 

They’d met in high school. Handong had been a stereotypical good girl, but she had a wild side. With an attitude and somewhat justified arrogance about her, Bora was more than intrigued. One night out quickly turned into several. Months together turned into years. Years turned into a mess.

Sometimes, she felt bad when Handong would accuse her of leading her on. Every once in a while, she would feel guilty when Handong would call her in the odd hours of the morning, crying about how she didn’t love her. Which, Bora most certainly  _ didn’t _ love her and she’d always wondered how Handong had ever gotten that notion in the first place. At times, she would feel apologetic for making Handong feel the need to make a statement by ignoring her for no reason. But, in all honesty, it had never failed to amuse her.

Those feelings of guilt had never lasted more than a few seconds— because she knew Handong. She knew that Handong would always be there and would always come back to her no matter what.

She wouldn’t deny that she cared about her. She was human. After spending so much time with her, of course Bora developed feelings. That had been inevitable, but, even so, the feelings had been trivial. Bora had ignored them, done the logical thing. But it wasn’t until she had ended things with Handong that she realized just how strong those feelings had been. Logic stopped mattering.

The break-up had been bad.

In the moment, her emotions got the better of her. Her and Handong argued all night. They both cried. Screamed. Said things they didn’t mean. Breaking someone’s heart had given Bora an unsettling feeling that she never wanted to experience again. She could take someone’s life easy, but single-handedly  _ destroying _ someone’s life… Handong had created a soft spot in her heart and Bora hated her for it. 

For a long time after the split, Bora had considered just taking Handong out of her misery. 

They didn’t have any more contact after their fallout and Bora was okay with that. She had no idea what Handong was up to nowadays and she didn’t really care anymore. Handong was irrelevant to her. It may have taken a while, but she had gotten over it. Friends, women, and family were things that didn’t matter in the end. Bora knew that. With it in mind, she moved on from her past lover and friends… Her past life in general, really. 

If none of that mattered, then what actually meant something to her?

Bora wondered about it herself quite often. 

She often pondered her existence. She wondered if there was any point, any reason as to why she was even living. All she knew was that life was a gift that she should cherish. It was ironic considering she was Death itself to some people, but it was what she thought. The things she didn’t know about life and death outweighed the things she did know by far and it bothered her. It used to keep her up at night. Sometimes, it still did.

It was a gilded gift. Human life was one of the most insignificant things on Earth. She knew that. Yet, in any near-death situation, she’d fight. She would fight to live, but why? Was she scared to die? To a certain extent, she supposed she was. However, she was much more curious than scared. Did she subconsciously hold some other form of beliefs? She doubted it. Her reasoning for her desire to live was a question so far unanswered. 

Tired of being lost in her thoughts, Bora sighed as she forced herself up off of the couch. She blamed the light outside for denying her body the sleep it wanted. It was probably better that she didn’t spend all day sleeping, as she still had things to do. Picking up her car was one of the more important ones. She stretched as she took a quick glance at her wrist watch.

_ 2:20 p.m.  _

She hadn’t heard anything from Siyeon for almost four hours. Bora made a languid trip upstairs to go check on her.

“I’m coming in.” she warned as she twisted the doorknob.

Her eyes fell straight to Siyeon. She was sitting on the bed, hiding her face in her knees. 

“I’m going to pick up my car. You can either come with me or I can lock you in here until I come back.”

She didn’t receive an answer. With a shrug, Bora went to the dresser. She’d never needed to lock the bedroom door before, so the key had been kept in there for ages. Siyeon had time to make a decision as Bora searched for the key, but she stayed quiet the entire time. 

“I shouldn’t be long.”

With that, she shut the door and locked it. Bora was downstairs gathering her things when a yell came from upstairs.

“Take me with you!”

“Goodness…” Bora huffed as the sound of fists banging against the door followed Siyeon’s cry.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: rape

Siyeon was surprisingly quiet the entire ride there. Bora had forgotten that she was even in the car until they’d pulled up into the elementary school parking lot. 

“Why are we here?” she muttered.

“I told you I was picking up my car.”

Eunji had insisted on meeting near her apartment. Bora didn’t realize it at first, but they were only a few streets away from where all of this had started. She was surprised that Siyeon hadn’t spoken up about it. She felt a bit wary of being so close to her home in broad daylight, but she wasn’t expecting for them to be there long. School wasn’t even in session. So, the chances of anyone seeing Siyeon were slim.

Eunji was waiting for them when they pulled up. 

“Thanks for this.” Bora greeted her as she hurried out of the car. 

Resting against Bora’s pride-and-joy, Eunji smiled before gawking, “That’s a nice ass car.”

“It’s all yours now.”

“Well… there’s still someone in it.”

Bora looked to see Siyeon just gazing at them from her seat. She urged her to come out. Already seeing her hesitance, Bora went over and opened up her door to grab her. She pulled her out and guided her to her car. Eunji had a questioning gaze, but Bora just ignored it until she got Siyeon inside.

“Who’s that?” she asked as the door shut.

“No one important. Thanks again.”

She tossed the keys to Sungwoo’s car to Eunji before getting in her own. Eunji had left the keys in the ignition and a grin took Bora’s lips as she turned them. The soft hum of the engine morphed into a loud roar as she revved it. A slow whistle of anticipation left her lips. Sungwoo’s car was a cheap toy compared to hers.

“This is yours?”

Siyeon’s tone made her narrow her eyes, “Yes.”

“It’s pretty.”

Bora was too busy wondering if Siyeon had bipolar disorder or something to respond. Once they got to the main road, let out a groan as she zoomed straight into traffic..

“What is it?”

“Nothing.” Bora grumbled and leaned her head against the car window as they drove, stopping and starting through the busy streets.

“I’m... I’m sorry for hitting you.”

Bora’s eyes became wide at her unexpected apology.

“I couldn’t care less about that. You were angry.”

“I’m sorry about breaking your stuff too…”

“As am I.”

“I got angry.”

“I know.”

“Are you really going to keep me trapped with you...?”

“Yes.”

Siyeon sighed. Bora was glad when she stopped talking. Her time spent dwelling in disappointment didn’t last as long as Bora had hoped, however. She ended up softly speaking up again.

“Is this what you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Kill people.”

“Technically.” Bora smirked, “I mean, I do other things too.”

“You seem okay with being a murderer.”

“Because I am.”

Siyeon shut up for good after that and Bora enjoyed having the silence back. It took them a bit longer than normal to get home thanks to the traffic. With the click of a button, Bora opened her garage door and drove in. She glanced over to Siyeon after she parked and noticed how expressionless she was. She was either easier to read than a billboard or the exact opposite. She was unpredictable and it didn’t sit well with Bora at all.

“You’ll be sleeping in the guest room tonight. I’m going to get someone to come clean the one you destroyed sometime later this week.” she informed her as she got out of the car. 

She was surprised that Siyeon followed without any instruction.

“I guess we’ll go out and buy you some more clothes as well. I don’t cook often because I’m usually not home at night. So, we’ll have to figure out something with that… I don’t think I’ll have a job for a while, though. So it’s fine for right now, I guess.”

Bora turned to look at her as she heard the sound of sniffling. As soon as their eyes met, Siyeon’s sounds became ones of full-fledged crying.

“Please don’t start.”

She cried out, “I— I don’t want to do this!”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“People are going to look for me. You’re probably all over the news by now!”

“They’ll stop looking eventually, and  _ I  _ won’t be on the news at all. Nothing is going to lead back to me.”

Bora left Siyeon to go to her kitchen. She got herself a wine glass and pulled out her favorite white wine out of the fridge. Light footsteps entered the room. Siyeon was still crying and Bora sighed before facing her.

“Would you like some?” she pointed back to the bottle on the counter.

“Y— You’re offering me alcohol?” 

“Do you want some or not?”

Wiping tears from her eyes, Siyeon muttered after a brief silence, “Okay...”

Bora got out another glass and she filled them both up accordingly. After handing it to her, she went straight into the living room to relax on the couch. It hadn’t even been a whole day yet, but the situation had already given her a permanent headache. She fell back onto the couch softly and closed her eyes. She listened to Siyeon sit down elsewhere. 

“How much money did he owe you?”

She opened an eye to find her sitting on the loveseat across from her, holding her wine glass with both hands.

“The general answer is a lot. If you want a more specific one, it was ₩12,800,000.”

“Oh…”

“It really wasn’t that much. The bastard was worth ten times as much.” Bora let her eyes fall closed again as she casually insisted.

“He had a name.”

“Does it matter now? Speaking of, what is yours?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“I just wanted to see if you would. I already took a look at your I.D.”

“What’s  _ your _ name? I just keep calling you a bitch in my head.”

Bora chuckled at her attempted intimidation, “That’s a little crude, don’t you think?”

Siyeon scoffed, but it stayed quiet after that. Bora could feel herself drifting off into slumber. It felt like the longest day of her life. Sadly, it wasn’t a nightmare, but she was still hoping that if she slept long enough that she’d wake up and find the newfound nuisance in her life gone.

“Does it not bother you having someone’s blood on your hands?!” 

Bora’s eyes shot open. Siyeon was upset again, but she stayed relaxed, “Is it supposed to?”

“You’re crazy… You’re a murderer. You—”

“You keep telling me things I already know, but I’m actually pretty sane. Being a murderer doesn’t automatically make me crazy.”

“You’d have to be crazy to kill someone.”

“We’re  _ all  _ capable of taking a life. It isn’t that difficult.” Bora took another drink, “Two guys get in a bar fight and one of them loses more than just the fight… Some woman trips in the shower and never gets up. People accidentally kill themselves and each other all of the time.”

“Stop trying to justify the fact that you’re a criminal! You’re evil!”

“I suppose to you I am, huh?”

“It’s—!”

“Can we just be quiet for ten minutes? Just ten.” Bora pleaded in irritation, “Do you think you can be quiet for that long? You have to be tired too, right? Ten minutes of peace will do us both some good.”

“Can I go upstairs?”

Just wanting Siyeon to shut up, she was more than okay with letting her leave, “Please.”

She sighed in relief as soon as she was gone. Then, her phone went off. There seemed to be no winning. Annoyed, Bora took her time getting the device. 

“You’re going to Tokyo tomorrow morning.” Minji spoke as soon as she picked up.

“What?”

“Your next job figured out that we were looking for him. He got on a plane an hour ago. I don’t want to wait around in case we lose track of him. So, you’re heading out tomorrow. Yerim knows where he’s staying already.”

A sudden realization made Bora freeze, “I have to bring Siyeon with me.”

“Siyeon?”

“The girl.”

Minji stayed silent for a moment before insisting, “I’ll send Yoohyeon with you as a precaution. She can keep an eye on the girl if necessary.”

“Why does it have to be Yoohyeon?”

“There really isn’t anyone else on our Tier who can go. You’re gonna have to manage for this trip, sorry.”

Bora sighed, “What time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“I’ll get her to pick you up… probably at around 4 a.m.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll send you what you need when you two land.”

With that, Bora hung up. She trudged over to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out the sleeping pills she was going to most certainly need thanks to the nap she’d taken. Even if it was only for a few more hours, she needed to get what sleep she could. Downing a couple of pills, she then went upstairs.

“I’m going to bed! You might want to as well. We have a lot to do tomorrow morning.” she called through the guest bedroom door. She waited for a response, but Siyeon stayed quiet. 

Bora had gone to her room, changed into her night clothes, and had gotten comfortable in bed before she remembered. 

Yoohyeon.

“God...” she groaned to herself.

She tried not to dwell on it as she attempted to sleep. It was pointless stressing over anyway. She just hoped that Yoohyeon would be tolerable and more or less sober on their trip. Over the years, Yoohyeon had become less of an emotional nuisance and more of just a nuisance in general. Bora had stopped caring about her reckless behavior a long time ago. Things were much more different now compared to when they’d first met.

When Yoohyeon had first joined the crew, Bora had somehow fallen into the role of being her caretaker. At first, it hadn’t been by choice, but Bora had grown fond of her over time. Yoohyeon was gutsy, sarcastic, and had a childish manner to her that Bora had once found herself attracted to. 

Even after Yoohyeon’s drug-induced attempt to violate her, she’d still found herself wanting to care for her.

_ Walking into the storage room, Bora let out a groan. Minji hadn’t been kidding when she’d said that they had gotten extra shipments that week. It was just Bora’s luck to get put on storage duty. She stood there absentmindedly, procrastinating by doing nothing at all. Taking inventory was the last thing she wanted to do in that moment. A sly smirk appeared on her face as an idea occurred to her. She let her pen fall from her fingertips and onto the floor. Then, she kicked it across the floor, straight under a shelf. _

_ “Better go look for a new one…” _

_ Just as she turned to leave, the door swung open. All she saw was a blur of silver hair before she was suddenly pushed up against the cement wall. _

_ She tried to push her attacker off in an instant, “Hey, what the—?! Yoohyeon?!” _

_ Her eyes became wide as Yoohyeon forcefully shoved her right back against the wall and held her there. _

_ “I thought you’d be stronger than this.” she let out a laugh. _

_ “What the fuck are you doing?” _

_ “Teaching you a lesson. I’m sick of you acting like you’re better than me.” _

_ Bora noticed something more than the fire in her eyes and calmly asked, “What are you on?” _

_ “I’m pissed and horny. That should be the last thing you’re worried about.” _

_ In an attempt to free herself once more, Bora tried to shake out of her hold. Failing, she kept her irritation out of her tone, “I really don’t want to have to talk to Minji about you… Get off of me.” _

_ “You think you scare me?” Yoohyeon taunted her, getting in her face, “You don’t.” _

_ “I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to help you before you screw things up.” _

_ “Screw things up?” she scoffed, “I don’t need your help. Why are you always telling me what to do?” _

_ “Because I’m your friend, and I—” _

_ “You’re a bitch.” _

_ Limbs clashed as Bora tried to fight off Yoohyeon’s hands. She was able to push her away, but she ended up underestimating Yoohyeon’s determination. The smack to the jaw she received shocked her more than the force behind it and she ended up getting pushed back up against the wall once more. Yoohyeon hastily unbuttoned her jeans and got them out of the way. She did the same with her underwear. A frown took Bora’s lips and she kept her head turned to the side. _

_ She figured that it would be best to just stay quiet and calm. She wouldn’t scream. She wouldn’t beg for her to stop, nothing like that. Giving Yoohyeon the satisfaction she wanted was the last thing Bora was going to do. Her pride amused her, despite the situation she was in. She was about to get raped, yet she felt as if she had something to prove. _

_ When she “bossed” Yoohyeon around, she honestly meant well. Yoohyeon was like a child. She needed to be watched and corrected. Bora really believed that if it wasn’t for her, Yoohyeon’s reckless behavior would’ve gotten her killed a long time ago. She had good intentions, so it bothered her that she felt so bitter towards her because of it.  _

_ The abrupt heat that had pooled between her thighs also bothered her. Without even realizing it, her gaze had ended up back on Yoohyeon. Her eyes fell to watch her hand force itself between her legs. Whatever had taken her expression made a noise of amusement come from Yoohyeon. Bora met her eyes and instantly regretted it. The smirk that took Yoohyeon’s lips made her angry at both her and herself. _

_ “Well, look at that…” she mused and what she did with her fingers made Bora’s limbs go stiff.  _

_ Bora couldn’t look at her anymore, but, as soon as she turned her head elsewhere, she was given no choice but to. Yoohyeon roughly grabbed her chin, making sure she held her gaze. Bora could feel herself breaking. The stone cold countenance she was trying to keep was cracking. Yoohyeon’s fingers suddenly ventured elsewhere and her teeth clenched as she tried not to react. _

_ “You’re wet.” _

_ She ignored her smug comment. Yoohyeon’s weight and grip disappeared as well as her fingers. Bora just glared at her, not amused by the games she was attempting to play. The proud look on Yoohyeon’s face made her even more annoyed. She took slow steps back away from her. _

_ “I should stop before I screw things up. You’re probably right…” _

_ “Yoohyeon, if you don’t finish what you started, I’ll finish myself.” she spit as a wicked grin appeared on Yoohyeon’s face. _

_ “Beg.” _

_ Having never been put in such a situation before, Bora was furious. She was angry about how turned on she was. She was angry at Yoohyeon for her outrageous actions. Yet, she was just as desperate for them to keep going.  _

_ After a tense pause, she muttered, “I’ll finish myself.” _

_ Bringing her own hand down between her legs wiped the smug smile right off of Yoohyeon’s lips. She jumped forward and slapped her hand away. _

_ “Whatever. I’ll take what I can get.” _

_ Bora moaned as Yoohyeon’s fingers started creating friction against her again. _

After that incident, sleeping together became a regular thing. Their friendship had already been odd enough and adding sex to the equation had made it even more so. Much to Yoohyeon’s dismay, Bora hadn’t always let her dominate her so easily. It turned into a game for them. Whether it was only fifteen minutes or a whole night, sex with Yoohyeon often led to bruises and plenty of other battle wounds. It’d always been filled with a rough kind of passion that Bora hadn’t been used to at all, but she’d enjoyed it nonetheless. 

When Yoohyeon had went off the deep end, their relationship had changed once again. Bora had always known that she was far past the point of addiction when it came to drugs and alcohol. She’d also known when she had started stealing from their own supplies to get a free fix. Instead of telling Minji about it, Bora had decided to take it into her own hands. She worked with Yoohyeon and did her best to keep her out of trouble. 

After finding her on her doorstep one morning, completely unresponsive, she’d realized that they’d both been in over their heads. 

Being Yoohyeon, even after several more near-death experiences, she’d never gotten serious about changing her ways. Whether it had been drugs or getting involved with people she shouldn’t have, getting in trouble had always been a joke to her. Nothing ever fazed her. Bora had cared for her, but she knew her own limits. Keeping Yoohyeon in check had been too much emotional stress and she’d eventually just given up. She left her to her own devices and stopped everything about their relationship, whatever it had been. Yoohyeon had been bitter, of course.

She still was, despite now having a girlfriend.

The whole situation gave Bora a headache. If it wasn’t for the medicine she’d taken earlier, she probably would’ve stayed up all night thinking about it. She ended up falling to sleep within the hour, thankfully. It was around 3 a.m when a creaking noise woke her back up. 

Bora grumbled when she felt her bed dip. She sat up as fast as she could, looking around in confusion. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, her grogginess immediately left. Her expression remained still as stone. Sitting on the side of her bed, Siyeon was silently crying. Her hands were trembling and that made Bora even more wary about the handgun she was holding. The barrel was aimed right at her chest.

Trusting her judgement, Bora instructed calmly, “Go ahead. Shoot.”

The fear and hesitation in Siyeon’s eyes became stronger. Her worry started to fade, even as Siyeon’s grip on the gun got tighter. She just watched her mentally debate with herself before she finally broke down. Bora reached and cautiously took the gun from her. She took a quick look at it and noticed that the safety was still on. With nothing more to worry about she slid it on the ground. 

When she sat back up, she gasped in surprise. Siyeon fell into her and she grabbed her as an automatic reaction. Siyeon’s sobs filled the room. 

As reluctant as Bora was, she supposed holding her was the least she could do.


	8. Chapter 8

When the plane landed, Siyeon woke Bora up. She’d slept straight through the intercom announcement. The vehicle Minji had rented for them was waiting for pickup and they got out of the airport within the hour. Yoohyeon set up the SUV’s bluetooth and called Minji as they set off to their hotel. After several rings, Minji picked up with a tired voice.

“Hello?”

Yoohyeon yelled, “Wake up, sleepy head!”

“You’ve landed?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“How’d the girl fare?”

“She was fine.” Bora spoke up, “No trouble at all.”

“Good… Good. Okay, I didn’t think you would need much. There’s two pistols in the trunk. I’ll send his location to your phone. He’s at a hotel only a few blocks away from where you’ll be staying. I recommend just keeping watch until you see him come out.”

“Gotcha.”

“You should be able to come back tonight or tomorrow morning if you play your cards right.”

Yoohyeon whined, “What if we wanna stay?”

“Why would you stay?” 

“I have a friend out here. I think I may stay for awhile. I’ll be cool.”

“Just make sure you’re back before Tuesday, Yoohyeon.”

She grinned as they pulled into the hotel’s parking lot, “Right on. See ya, Jiji.”

“What did I say about calling me—?”

Yoohyeon ended the call before Minji could scold her anymore. As they parked, Bora eyed her suspiciously, “A friend?”

“Yeah, Yuri lives here now. Figure I’d pay her a visit.”

Her tone let Bora know exactly what she meant by a _visit._

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?

“Oh yeah. Have I told you about her yet?”

“Not really, not that I care to know.”

“We’ll talk later then. Let’s go check out this suite!” 

In their small group of three, they checked in. Minji had booked one large suite for them. The one bed it got destroyed by Yoohyeon rolling around all over it. Siyeon had dismissed herself to the bathroom when they’d first gotten inside. Bora made herself busy with the mini-bar as she waited patiently for Minji’s text. It was five o’clock somewhere. She kept her drinking to a minimum though, as drinking alcohol at seven-something in the morning never did anyone any good. Plus, she did have a job to do.

“Yo, there’s only one bed. What are—?”

“We’ll be gone by tonight. There’s no need to even finish that sentence.” Bora mumbled, her attention on some random magazine.

“You really don’t want to share a bed with me, huh? Do you wanna keep that babe all to yourself? Is that it?” she taunted, rolling onto her stomach on the bed.

Bora just ignored her.

“We can share.”

Despite being ignored, Yoohyeon still kept talking.

“She’s almost sexier than you, you know. Not like that’s saying much. You’re boring nowadays.”

Bora looked up from her magazine to smile at her, “Thanks.”

“I would still fuck you, though. You know you have amazing tits… but I think Kaeun may have you beat. Man, if I got you and her together…” 

“Kaeun?”

“My girlfriend. Oh yeah, let me tell you about her! She—”

Yoohyeon paused as Siyeon came out of the bathroom. Yoohyeon’s eyes followed her as she walked across the room to sit on the couch before continuing. 

“She’s a stripper. _Stripper._ We didn’t meet at her club, though. She just bought some coke off me and it went from there. I did go to see her strip once and you gotta see her.”

Bora smirked before questioning, “How does she feel about you sleeping with other women behind her back?”

“Hates it.” she laughed loudly.

“Horrible.”

“I mean, she goes out and grinds on guys every night. It’s pretty much the same thing… At least I’m getting some.”

“Right.” 

“You just can’t find anyone as good as me, huh? I understand.” Yoohyeon playfully gave her comfort that she didn’t need. Before Bora could respond, her phone went off. She gave Yoohyeon a glare before reading the text.

“Cho Kyuhyun. He’s staying at the W hotel a couple of blocks away from us, room 343… Has a black mustang.”

“You gonna go now?”

“Might as well.” she shrugged, “I’ll go check the layout and find his car. I’m not going to actually wait on him until tonight. He probably won’t go anywhere until then anyway.”

She tossed the magazine aside and grabbed the keys to the SUV off the table.

“Whoa, where are you going?” she heard Yoohyeon call out.

Bora turned around, confused, as she was opening the door and then realized that Yoohyeon had been talking to Siyeon. She’d gotten up and was walking towards her.

“You’re staying here.” Bora reminded her.

“Yeah, weren’t you listening earlier? I’m supposed to be babysitting you!”

“But…” Siyeon’s words faded.

“You’ll be fine. Don’t cause her any trouble… Yoohyeon, that goes for you as well.”

Bora left on that note and made her way down to the parking lot. Not used to driving such a large vehicle, she took things slow. It annoyed her. She couldn’t speed. She couldn’t drift. Even parking normally proved to be difficult. After getting to her destination, she sat there for a few minutes just disgustingly checking out all of the SUV’s features. How someone could drive comfortably in one of the things, she had no idea.

Finding his car in the parking garage was easy. It stood out like a sore thumb. The area around the hotel wasn’t very congested. There weren’t many buildings he could escape to given the opportunity. Catching him would be easy if he ended up slipping away.

With time to kill, after getting all of the information she needed, Bora decided to drive around a bit. 

It was nice to get some alone time. But despite her not being around, Bora’s thoughts kept going back to Siyeon. After passing a sign for a nearby shopping district, the first thing Bora thought of was her. She still needed clothes. Picking up a few items while she was thinking about it wouldn’t hurt. Bora ended up spending several hours there. She bought some necessities for Siyeon and even a nice coat for herself. 

When she eventually made her way back to the hotel, she was surprised by what she walked in on.

“Yeah, I used to want to do shit like that too. That’s cool that it worked out for you… Really, up until the gang, I wasn’t even doing much with my life anyway.”

“Why—?”

Siyeon, sitting on the bed casually with Yoohyeon, met Bora’s gaze upon taking notice of her. 

“I liked drugs.” Yoohyeon amusingly confessed, “What about you, Miss Medical Student? I bet you’ve never even— Oh.”

Bora didn’t dwell on their conversation at all and just tossed all of what she’d bought to the side. 

“What the fuck is all of that? Is that why you were gone for so long?”

“Stuff.” she looked to Siyeon, “I bought you some clothes. If you want, when we get back, we can buy you some more things. I’m not even sure if all of this will fit or not. There’s a toothbrush and hairbrush as well.”

Yoohyeon was still eyeing all of the bags as she scoffed, “What? Are you her sugar daddy now or something?”

“She needs clothes.”

“You know what she needs? Food, and so do I.”

“You didn’t need to wait for me to get back for that. Just look at the room service menu.”

“We’re in Tokyo. I wanna go out!”

Bora resisted the desire to groan as she leaned back against the dresser, “We aren’t on vacation, Yoohyeon. We have _her._ We can’t just stroll around the city—”

“Siyeon isn’t going to cause us any trouble. Right, babe?” she didn’t even give her a chance to respond before focusing back on Bora, “She’ll be fine. Come on.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I could say the same to you!”

“We’re not going out.” she muttered.

“You’re right. We’re not.”

Bora’s eyes followed Yoohyeon as she hopped off the bed and urged Siyeon to grab her hand. She was surprised when Siyeon hesitantly took it. Yoohyeon dragged her to the door and urged her to put her shoes on.

“ _We’re_ going out. You’re boring anyway.” 

“Yoohyeon, you—”

“Bye!” she sung with a mischievous laugh as she left with Siyeon in tow.

Beyond annoyed, Bora ran a hand through her hair and snatched the keys. As she hurried out behind them, she couldn’t help but grumble to herself.


	9. Chapter 9

After catching up with a smug-faced Yoohyeon, they all got in the SUV and took off. Bora drove around the city aimlessly. She was irritated enough that they were actually doing this and Yoohyeon’s commentary about the city and the people they passed just added onto it. Upon Yoohyeon’s decision, they found a small little coffee shop. Bora couldn’t complain too much. Not until Yoohyeon tried to sit in a booth with Siyeon, that is. Bora didn’t let that happen and jerked the tall woman away from the booth so she could sit in it instead. She wanted to make sure Siyeon didn’t cause trouble. 

“Man, I’m fucking starving...” Yoohyeon grumbled, looking around for a waitress to come.

“Good morning, my name’s Ayumi. I’ll be serving you today.” 

Bora rolled her eyes when she looked at the woman in a maid’s outfit. She was going to smack Yoohyeon when she got the chance. She should have expected her to choose a place like this.

“Really? A maid cafe?” Bora asked after their waitress left with their drink orders. Bora had ordered her and Siyeon a cup of coffee, while Yoohyeon had ordered some weird frappe thing.

“You gotta love ‘em.”

Once the waitress came back with their drinks, they ordered their food.

“Yeah, can I get the broiled fish with some tsukemono?” 

“And you, miss?”

“We’ll both get a plate of tamagoyaki, please.”

“Well damn. Did you even ask her what she wanted? You didn’t even ask her what kind of coffee she wanted earlier.” 

Bora was about to say something, but she realized that Yoohyeon was right. 

“Do you see something you like?” 

Siyeon glanced at the menu in front of her, but quickly shook her head.

“I— I’ve never been to Japan before. I don’t really know what any of this is…”

“Tamagoyaki is a type of rolled-up omelet. It’s pretty good. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Thank you...” Siyeon’s voice faded and she brought her gaze to her lap.

“Two tamagoyaki plates, please. Thank you.”

“You’ve never been to Tokyo, Siyeon?! Missing out, man. Missing out.” 

“No. I’ve never even left South Korea before.”

“Let’s see… I’ve been here. I’ve been to London, the United States, in California, and I went to Mexico. But I was only there for like an hour. So, I’m not sure if that counts. Anyway, travel is a pretty fucking great perk of being a drug dealer. I bet nurses don’t get benefits like that!”

Siyeon pointed out, “You both speak Japanese really well.” 

“Yeah, we come here a lot. Learning it was kind of a must.” Yoohyeon shrugged.

“Sungwoo came here a lot on business…” 

“Who the fuck is Sung—?”

“Her boyfriend.” Bora quickly explained.

“Oh yeah. The weasel.” 

“I always begged him to take me on vacation here… I wanted to come during Cherry Blossom season. I’ve heard it’s beautiful here. He never budged on that, though.” 

Bora could hear the tears in her voice.

“Can I go to the bathroom?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

Bora slid out the booth and Siyeon quickly followed.

“If you’re not back in five minutes, I’ll come looking for you.” 

“I actually kinda feel bad for her.” Yoohyeon muttered after she was gone.

“I wouldn’t.” Bora let her eyes wander around the restaurant, “It hasn’t even been that long and she’s already cried more times than I can count. It’s pathetic.”

“I see your harshness hasn’t changed…” 

“I don’t think I’m being harsh.”

“Bora, you’re a cold-ass bitch sometimes.” 

“I’m not going to disagree with you on that one.”

“I’m serious though.” Yoohyeon laughed softly, “Like, give the chick a break. You killed her boyfriend, took her away from fucking everything, and got her raped. You’re making her live with you. Ya know what, I’d be crying too.” 

“She’ll be fine. She’ll be out of my hands soon enough.” 

“Maybe you’ll enjoy having the company. You have that big ass house and have like no friends. This’ll be good for you. She can be like your pet!”

“I prefer being alone.”

“Oh boy, don’t I know it.”

Bora rose a brow at her, “Some of your past actions prove otherwise.” 

“That’s because I liked being with you, whether you wanted to be alone or not.” 

Bora didn’t respond.

“Even if you don’t miss having _me_ around, you miss having _someone_ around. I see through your bullshit. You’re human, just like the rest of us.”

“I certainly don’t miss having you around, and yes— I’m human, Yoohyeon. I’m aware. But I know better. Doesn’t missing something you don’t need sound like a waste of time? It is.”

Yoohyeon let out a sigh and shook her head.

“You know, I always get pissed when you give me advice and tell me how to fix my life because you have a hell of a lot of life-fixing to do on your own.”

“Well, no one’s perfect.” Bora smirked, “I’m human, remember?”

“Remember that next time that girl cries about her dead boyfriend, who just happened to be killed by the bitch who kidnapped her.”

“It’s been five minutes by now, hasn’t it? I’ll be back.”

Bora got up and made her way to the restrooms. When she walked in, she saw Siyeon immediately, leaning against the sink, sniffling and shaking. 

“I— I’m sorry!” Siyeon cried out as soon as Bora entered, “I’m just trying...trying to calm down.”

Bora stayed quiet. She watched Siyeon wipe the tears from her eyes as she started pacing back and forth. She supposed Yoohyeon was right. Siyeon wasn’t like her. She was normal, if anything, certainly average. She was a bit younger as well. Of course she was going to handle things like this. Although, Bora had honestly never been around someone who cried so much. Being overly emotional must have been part a of Siyeon’s DNA or something.

“Things will be okay.” Bora lied.

Siyeon looked up to her with a very conflicted look on her face.

“Let’s go eat.” 

Bora went and held the restroom door open. Siyeon followed her back to the table and when they got there, Bora was happy to find their food already on the table. Yoohyeon was already scarfing her fish down diligently when they sat down.

“Hey, smile, Siyeon! You have food!” 

“If you don’t like it, I’ll order you something else.” Bora muttered close to her ear.

They ate in silence. Every so often, Bora would glance at Siyeon from the corner of her eye to make sure she was actually enjoying her food. She seemed to like it. Yoohyeon inhaled hers and finished first. Bora took her time eating. When they all finished, the waitress brought them the check immediately. 

Bora paid for their meal and they left quickly.

“Can we go do something else now?” Yoohyeon asked as soon as they got in the SUV.

“No. We’re going back to the hotel. I’m going to take a nap. You can go out if you want, Yoohyeon.” Bora gave up her resistance, knowing that Yoohyeon would probably end up sneaking off somehow anyway.

“Hell yeah. Siyeon—!”

“ _You_ can go out. You’re not taking Siyeon with you. She has to stay at the hotel.”

“But—!”

“She’s staying.” Bora gave Yoohyeon a stern look as they stopped at a red light, “Also, wherever you go, you need to be back before 7:00 p.m. That’s when I plan on heading out.”

Yoohyeon groaned, “Fine.” 

When they got to the hotel, Yoohyeon just got in the driver’s seat after Bora handed her the keys. She was gone in a flash, gone before Bora and Siyeon had even made their way inside the hotel. Bora felt wary of Yoohyeon’s responsibility and hoped that she’d be back before seven. She just wanted to get this job over with. Normally, this never felt like a job, but having Siyeon with her made it feel like real work. They were just waiting around, but she felt stressed. It was bugging her.

“Um…”

Bora looked up, lifting her head up off of the pillow to look at Siyeon, who was sitting in the small loveseat on the opposite wall. 

“Can I call you Bora?” she asked softly.

“I’d prefer that over “bitch.” 

Bora was glad it went quiet again, but then she remembered something.

“Have you ever ridden a ferry?”

“No.”

“That’s right... You’ve never even been out the country.” Bora sighed, “Well, we’re going to take a ferry back to Korea.”

“Okay.”

The ferry trip would take a bit longer, but it was okay. Bora enjoyed being out at sea. She figured a ferry trip would be less motion sickness-inducing for Siyeon. The ferry trips, especially to-and-from Tokyo, were usually pretty smooth.

"Yoohyeon is...” Siyeon struggled for the word.

“Yeah. I know.”


	10. Chapter 10

Surprisingly enough, Yoohyeon was back before 7:00 p.m. Bora was more than grateful when she handed her the car keys. She was ready to get out of there.

She’d taken a two-hour nap. When she awoke, she was faced with a problem. Siyeon, who had kept herself busy with all the books and magazines in the suite, was still there. Which, it’s not like Bora was expecting her to be gone. It was just that Bora felt a bit awkward being there with her in silence. The only time they spoke was when Siyeon had turned on the TV and asked a question about a story on the news. Bora answered, partially translating most of it for her. Then, they went back to sitting in silence. Bora stared at the same magazine for hours. She would have drunk some more, but she had to be in her right mind for the mission.

“How long do you think it’ll take you?” Yoohyeon asked.

“I give it less than an hour.” 

“Alright.” Yoohyeon waved her off, sitting on the floor in front of Siyeon, who was sitting on the loveseat, “Take your time.”

Bora gave Yoohyeon a skeptical look, then just sighed and left. She honestly didn’t care what Yoohyeon was up to at this point. She made her way down to the lobby of the hotel, through the parking garage, and managed to find where Yoohyeon said she parked the SUV. She slyly went to the trunk, pulled out one of the pistols Juhyun had lent her, and checked the clip in the car before she drove off into the night. She arrived at the other hotel shortly.

The first job Bora had ever been given had been a simple one, even back then. She had to stake out some hoodrat who owed them a few grand. He was a college student. Bora staked out his college campus and waited for him one night. She found him in the parking lot, took him by surprise. She hadn’t been the best shot in the world back then and it had taken a couple of shots to the chest to get him down. She fired the first shot before he could even get a word out. If there was anything she regretted about that night, that was it. She regretted not letting him beg. Maybe he would’ve been a fighter. Sometimes they screamed.

Whenever she thought back to that night, she wondered what he would’ve done. What he would’ve said.

She’d been held at gunpoint before. Every time, she kept her mouth shut. She never said a word unless she was spoken too. 

But most people had last words. They were always something along the lines of, “You can’t do this!” or “I’m married! I have kids! I have family to take care of!” All of them were usually silly statements that were choked out due to fear. Every once in a while, Bora got the brave “Go ahead.” or “You’ll burn in hell.” Ones like that made her smile. Her favorite one, which she had heard several times was, “Kill me. It’s not like it matters anyway.” That one she loved the most because it was true. Usually, she kept it to herself, but she remembered one time where she replied back with a, “You’re right.” 

She had never once heard something meaningful. She didn’t really know what that meant, but she’d know if she heard it. She’d consider someone saying a prayer before lead went between their eyes as meaningful last words. She’d yet to hear that or anything like it, though. She probably never would. It was hard to come up with exquisite and meaningful words with a gun pointed towards your head.

Bora had parked the SUV a few spots away from Kyuhyun’s black mustang. She waited against the trunk of the SUV idly. About an hour passed before she saw him walking towards the spot.

“Cho Kyuhyun?” 

He looked up in an instant. It was him. Bora was sure of that. It was all over his face. She brought the gun up to aim and, as soon as she did, he hoped in his car. Bora considered shooting one of his tires out for a quick second, but suddenly she was in the mood to have some fun. She ran back to her SUV. As he zoomed out the parking spot, Bora started her car. 

Within the first fifteen seconds of the chase, Bora could tell he was a novice driver. As they sped down the somewhat busy street, she had a grin on her face. The fact that she was able to drive so well in such a bulky, stupid SUV made her feel a bit proud of herself. She didn’t know how the cops there were when it came to reckless driving and speeding, but she honestly didn’t care. The only thing that was on her mind was the black mustang a few feet in front of her and the bastard that was in it.

Cars were honking. People on the street were yelling. Bora could barely hear any of the noise over the SUV’s loud engine. As the mustang made a sharp left turn on a street going deeper into the city, Bora narrowed her eyes. She was sure she could make the turn without tipping the SUV over. It was risky trying it at almost 105 mph, but she was sure she could do it. As she approached the intersection, the light turned red. She sped right past it and hoped the cars in the lane across from her knew better than to move. One car who pulled out anyway blared its horn at her as she almost ran into the side of its hood. She lightly swerved a bit, but made the turn effortlessly. Her eyes darted around for the black mustang that suddenly turned again, right this time and into an alleyway. Hitting a couple of already smashed trash cans, Bora followed. 

When she pulled in it, she became confused. Towards the end of it, she saw that the mustang had stopped. She slowed down immediately. As she got closer, she saw the driver door was ajar but the car was still on. Bora let out a laugh and stopped the SUV. Whatever this guy thought he was going to do wasn’t going to happen and Bora wondered how he’d get himself out of it. She hopped out the SUV, gun ready. She was waiting for him to pop out of some shadows. She walked towards his car carefully. There was no way he had run off so fast. He was hiding somewhere and she was going to find him.

She walked past the mustang and looked around carefully. She heard it behind her, but didn’t have enough time to turn around as she felt a blow to the back of her head. She stumbled forward and fell onto the hood of the mustang. Before he could strike her again, she turned around. He moved closer, a pipe of some sort in hand, and she kicked him in the stomach before he could do anything. He came charging at her regardless, clutching his side. She quickly rolled off the hood of the car as his strike came down, almost hitting her in the head.

When she landed on the ground, catching herself on her hands and knees, her gun slid elsewhere. It was a bit too dark for her to tell where it went. So, she quickly got up and turned to find Kyuhyun preparing to strike her with the pipe again. She dodged it and grabbed his arm, twisting it around. He grunted in pain and Bora threw him to the hood of the mustang. The pipe fell to the cement ground with a “clank.” He didn’t hesitate, though. Immediately after it slipped from his hands, a fist came flying up towards Bora. This guy was a fighter. She liked it. It had been awhile since she had to fight someone like this. She accepted the challenge happily.

Bora dodged his fist and used his failed attempt as her own opportunity to connect a fist to his face. She quickly grabbed him by his throat and tightened her hand around it. He struggled relentlessly and slipped from Bora’s grip. He slid down off the hood of the car and as he did, Bora kicked him in the face. The sound of his jaw breaking echoed through the alley. He screamed as he hit the ground. Bora used the opportunity to stomp on his face and made sure she landed on his jaw. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted her fallen gun.

“ _Please_ tell me you’ve had enough.” Bora chuckled, getting her gun and aiming it at him. He was trying to pull himself up on his knees. There was a small puddle of blood coming from his mouth as he did.

“You...bitcchh.”

“I gave you a chance, but you’ve disappointed me.”

Bora watched as he brought himself up to his feet.

“I ougghhtta kill... you.” 

“You took the words right out of my mouth.”

**_BANG!_ **

With that, he fell to the ground. Bora walked up closer to him and kicked him over. He was still alive, but within seconds, life left him. Bora looked more closely, his still bright but fading eyes looking up past her. She frowned. The bullet wound was above his right eyebrow. 

She had aimed right above the bridge of his nose.

She went through his pockets and found nothing important. She took his wallet, just so it would take the cops longer to identify the body. She then hurried to his car and looked through it, wary of leaving fingerprints anywhere. There was nothing important there, either. When she made her way back to the SUV, she stumbled as she grabbed the door handle. She looked down but saw nothing. She just shook it off and got in. She had to maneuver the SUV out of the alley and somehow managed it. It took her a few minutes to figure out where she was exactly, but the longer she drove around the more familiar things got. The bastard had only led her about fifteen minutes away from her hotel.

As she drove, normally, through the streets, her eyes kept falling onto different lights coming from stores and cars. She didn’t realize how much trouble she was having paying attention to the road until she almost accidentally ran a red light. As she was stopped, several cop cars sped past her, sirens blaring. It made her head throb. It was starting to ache. She supposed an adrenaline rush kept her from feeling it before. She definitely was now, though.

She made it back to the hotel in due time and sat in her car for a few minutes after she parked in the garage. For some reason, she didn’t feel like moving. She wanted to go to sleep. That chase had taken the energy out of her. She laughed at the thought of her being too old to keep doing this. Forcing herself to get out of the car, she went, put the pistol back in the trunk, and then made her way into the hotel. She glanced at her watch as she got in the lobby elevator. 

_9:40 p.m._

When she reached her floor, she took one step out of the elevator before immediately clutching onto the side of it. Her head was spinning. Something was definitely wrong. That pipe to the back of her head must have done more to her than she’d thought. She leaned against the elevator door frame with her eyes closed, trying to collect herself before she took another step. She cursed under her breath. There was no way she could see a doctor here. Well, she could… She just really didn’t want to. She wanted to go home. She didn’t have time for this.

“Bora?”

Bora’s eyes flew open and met Siyeon’s concerned gaze.

“Are you okay?”

“What the hell are you doing out here?” Bora groaned, pushing herself up off the door frame only to stumble forward.

Siyeon grabbed her shoulders and steadied her. Bora shook from her grip immediately. 

“Yoohyeon kicked me out. I— I’ve just been sitting in front of the door…”

“What the hell?!” 

“Are you okay?” 

Bora grumbled, pushing her out the way, “I’m fine.” 

She was able to walk to their room and as soon as she got to it, she banged on the door loudly. There was no answer. She reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out the key card. 

“There’s someone else—” 

“Yoohyeon, get the hell up!” Bora growled, the sight in front of her making rage pulse through her veins. 

Yoohyeon was on the ground, on her knees at the end of the bed. Bora wasn’t able to see her face, but only because it was placed between some naked woman’s legs. The woman, who was laying out on the bed, sat up in an instant. She pulled Yoohyeon’s head away from her-- as she either didn’t hear Bora or she simply didn’t care. It was probably the second one.

“Dammit, Bora!” Yoohyeon groaned, “You couldn't have waited for like five more minutes?”

Yoohyeon let her head fall in the woman’s lap in defeat, but she quickly pushed Yoohyeon away from her. She brought her hands back up to her bare chest.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“What does it look like?” Yoohyeon sighed, getting up, grabbing some clothes off the floor, and throwing them at the woman.

“How could you just put her out like that?! She could have run off!”

“She was fine. She wasn’t going anywhere. Plus, she said it was fine!” 

“Of course she did! She was probably planning on getting out of here! Are you an idiot?!”

“I bet you think so.” Yoohyeon rolled her eyes and sat down on the loveseat before looking at the upset woman on the bed, “Yuri, you should probably, like, go.”

“Well, no shit.” she said, now fully clothed. Hurrying past Siyeon and Bora, she mumbled, “Sorry.”

“I know so, Yoohyeon. I can’t believe you.” 

Without a second thought, Bora found the one bag she’d bought and collected all the things she had taken out of it. She put all of Siyeon’s newly-bought things in it as well.

“What the—?”

“We’re leaving. Job’s done.”

“Hey, Bora. Come on. Don’t get all pissy because—”

“Just shut up.” Bora walked up to her and glared at her sternly, “You’re lucky she’s still here.”

Bora grabbed Siyeon and drug her out of the hotel room. She struggled to keep up with her. Bora pulled out her phone as they went down to the lobby and called for a taxi. Once they got outside the lobby, she threw the bag to the side of a building wall.

“Are you hungry?” Bora asked, agitation in her voice.

“I—”

“Are you hungry? Yes or no?”

Siyeon nodded, Bora’s fierce eyes scaring her a bit.

Bora was ridiculously angry. What was Yoohyeon thinking? Her only job had been to watch over Siyeon. That was it. It was nothing complicated. Bora should’ve known that Yoohyeon would’ve done something to screw it up. She really was lucky that Siyeon didn’t run off, because if she had, Bora would've made Yoohyeon wish she hadn’t even been born. Bora was lucky Siyeon was so stupid and stayed put. Yoohyeon had risked everything for nothing. If Siyeon had run off, Bora wouldn’t have known what she would’ve done.

But she hadn’t. So, there really wasn’t a logical reason to be angry.

The chill air of the night helped Bora calm down as they waited for their taxi. Siyeon stood silently next her. When the taxi finally came, Bora ushered her in and then entered on the other side.

“Do you know any good restaurants, preferably close to Tokyo Port?” Bora asked the cab driver.

He nodded and informed her that it was twenty minutes away.

“Thanks… We’re going to get something to eat and then we’ll be on the next ferry to Japan.” 

Siyeon muttered a bit uneasily, “Japan…? We’re already in Japan.” 

“What?” 

Had she said Japan? She was sure she’d said Seoul. 


	11. Chapter 11

“Um… Bora?”   
  


Bora felt someone shaking her. Who the hell was waking her up so early in the morning? The voice sounded familiar. Was it Jieun? Jieun was the only one who had a key to her house. It had to be her. What the hell was she doing here so early? She usually only stopped by after her classes ended in the afternoon. Unless… Had Bora overslept? Bora thought about checking the time, but she was too tired to even look over at her alarm clock. Jieun would just have to wait. She wasn’t ready to wake up yet.

_Why is it so cold?_

Bora shivered. She curled up into a ball even more. Why was it so cold? She never kept the A/C on at night, not even in the summer. Jieun must have messed with it. She was probably trying to get her to wake up and get out of bed already. The younger Kim had learned her tactics from the best. Bora groaned. She really just wanted to sleep. 

“Bora, please wake up!”

_Why is she crying? She’s such a drama queen, crying because I won’t wake up..._

“ _Please_ wake up!” the familiar voice cried.

That wasn’t Jieun.

Bora shot up in an instant. She blinked a couple of times, taking in her surroundings. She wasn’t at home. She wasn’t in her bed. She was outside, in the dark, sitting on a bench. She looked next to her and saw where the voice had come from. It was Siyeon. She had tears in her eyes and seemed scared. Bora put her head in her hands, the sudden throbbing pain attacking her.

“Are you okay? You— You passed out!” 

Bora’s eyes widened. The thoughts of leaving the hotel, getting a taxi, and driving somewhere flooded her mind. The last thing she remembered was looking out the taxi window at the cars zooming past them. Had she actually passed out? No way. She cursed. She’d have to see a doctor. That hit from that bastard earlier really messed her up.

“I’m fine.”

“Obviously not!” Siyeon suddenly exclaimed, surprising her.

“I got hit in the back of the head with a pipe earlier…” 

“Can I see?” 

“I got hit in the head, there isn’t anything back there.” 

Siyeon stood up and went behind the bench and Bora’s head was suddenly pushed downwards. She winced as Siyeon roughly grabbed her head and prodded around. 

“There’s some blood.” Siyeon mumbled as Bora felt her moving her hair around, “You probably have a concussion.”

“Great.” Bora huffed.

“We need to take you to the hospital.”

Bora stood up instantly, “No.”

She swayed in place and fell back down onto the bench. Her head was spinning again.

“You’re gonna have to see a doctor. Trust me. I went to school for this stuff.” Siyeon insisted.

“I’ll be fine for now. I’m not seeing a doctor here… Where are we, by the way?” 

“The restaurant the taxi driver took us to is down the street. I dragged you down here so you could lay down…”

“Dragged me here?” Bora turned around to stare at her.

“You passed out in the car. When we got here, I had to find your wallet and pay for the cab. I just told the guy you were drunk…” Siyeon mumbled, sitting back down on the bench, “I carried you down here. It’s been almost an hour since. I didn’t know what to do. You wouldn’t wake up!” 

“You carried me?” 

There was no way such a skinny girl had that much strength.

Siyeon nodded. Bora just stared at her in disbelief.

“Why didn’t you leave?”

“Where would I go?” Siyeon let out a small bitter and sarcastic laugh, “Remember? I have nothing now…”

“Right.” Bora nodded, still not understanding why she stayed. She really was stupid.

“How do you feel?”

“Fine… Dizzy, but fine.” Bora answered honestly, “I should be fine.”

She tried getting up again, much more slowly this time. 

“Let’s go eat and we’ll get out of here.” Bora instructed, “Which way is the restaurant?”

Siyeon pointed to the right and Bora began walking. She looked behind her to see that Siyeon was carrying her bag. Soon enough, she spotted the restaurant. It had a bright blue light as a sign and Bora brought her eyes to the ground as they got closer. The light was making her head throb. She quickly walked in, holding the door open for Siyeon, who was lagging behind a bit. From the looks of the place, it was a simple sushi restaurant. They got seated and menus handed to them. Siyeon timidly grabbed hers and began looking through it.

“You can get whatever you want.” Bora informed her, opening her own menu and scanning it.

Their waiter brought them a water pitcher and glasses.

“Thank you.” Siyeon mumbled in Japanese.

Bora rose her eyebrow at Siyeon.

“That’s about all I know.” 

Bora cleared her throat as the waiter walked away.

“I guess I should thank you…” Bora started, “So, thank you... for taking care of things.”

Siyeon blinked, gazing at her with wide eyes. 

“You’re… welcome.” 

Bora cleared her throat again. Things felt a bit awkward. It felt weird thanking her and Bora was sure Siyeon felt the same way about it.

“By the way, Yoohyeon tricked me.” Siyeon spoke up, setting her menu down.

“I assumed that.” 

“After you left, she told me a friend was coming over. She said they had to talk about something serious and asked if I could step out the room for a while they talked…” she explained, a bit of blush appearing across her cheeks.

Bora smirked as Siyeon explained what happened, “So, you’re a snitch. Note taken.” 

“I just don’t want you to think I agreed to that! I didn’t know what she was doing.” 

“I know.” Bora nodded, amused at her reaction.

“Yeah, I’m not stupid.” 

Bora looked at her in disbelief and held back a chuckle, “I didn’t say you were.”

At that moment, the waiter came back to take their orders. Bora watched Siyeon as she struggled to pronounce what she wanted. Bora told the man her order and he took their menus. She looked around. The restaurant was fairly empty. She looked at her watch. It was late, so that made sense. As her eyes jumped from table to table, everything suddenly got blurry. She blinked hard, trying to make things go back to normal.

“Bora?”

She looked back towards Siyeon, who had become a blurry figure along with everything else. She stayed calm and waited until things went back to normal to speak.

“I’m fine. Everything just got blurry for a second.” 

“What should I do if you pass out again?”

“I won’t.” Siyeon gave Bora a skeptical look, “But if I do, just… I don’t know. Let’s just hope I don’t, yeah?”

“Could be karma…”

“What?” Bora asked blatantly.

“That’s what you get for trying to kill somebody.” 

“I didn’t try. I succeeded, quite easily actually.” Bora corrected her, “Do you have bipolar disorder or something? One minute you’re calm, the next you’re in hysterics. One minute you’re nice to me, the next you act like a brat.” 

“Are you trying to offend me?” Siyeon asked, glaring at Bora.

“Not at all. It was a serious question.”

“How do you expect me to act?!” 

“Nevermind. Sorry I asked.” Bora waved her off, not wanting to draw attention to their table.

“You murdered my boyfriend, along with thousands of other people! You kidnapped me! For someone in a gang, you act so casual and so calm. You’re nice to me, but what are you expecting me to do? I should hate you! I hate being around you, but if I’m going to be stuck with you I can’t keep crying and being resistant.”

“You said you were being tolerant of me? Well, I’m being tolerant of you too.” Siyeon pushed back her chair and stood up, “And I’m also a normal, compassionate human being. So, of course, I’m going to be nice to you. I’m not like you.”

Bora just stared at her in surprise as she left the table towards the restrooms.

“ _Thousands of other people_ …What?” Bora scoffed, looking down at the table.

“Girlfriends are pains sometimes, aren’t they?” the waiter asked as he came up to the table with their food.

“What? She’s not my girlfriend.” 

“Oh. Could’ve fooled me.” he laughed, “She seemed pretty angry at you, though.”

“She’s ridiculous.” Bora said that more to herself than to the waiter. She was wondering why the guy was even attempting to talk to her or why he had been listening in on their conversation. She was glad no one around seemed to understand Korean. 

He walked away after that and Bora just waited patiently for Siyeon to come back. When she did, Bora was surprised to see that her eyes weren’t red or puffy. Bora figured she had been crying her eyes out.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” Bora told her sincerely as she sat down.

Siyeon ignored her, “Did you wait for me to come back? You could’ve started eating. Your food probably got cold.”

“It’s sushi… It’s already cold.”

Siyeon looked at both of their plates, realizing they had both in fact ordered sushi.

Bora’s eyes widened at the noise that left her lips.

_She’s laughing. That’s the first time I’ve actually heard her laugh._

“What?” Siyeon chuckled a bit more.

“Nothing. Things were getting blurry again.” 

“Do ferries even run this late?” Siyeon randomly asked, mouthful of food.

“Of course.” 

They ate the rest of their food in silence. Halfway through her plate, a sudden wave of nausea hit Bora. She froze, chopsticks in her hand. She took deep breaths, hoping it would go away. 

“Bora—?”

Bora got up and swiftly strode to the restroom. She pushed open the door with urgency and stumbled into the first stall she saw. She didn’t even have enough time to close the door. One thing Bora hated was throwing up. When you vomited, you couldn’t control it. You couldn’t breathe. You were left helpless until it was over. Sadly, it wasn’t over soon enough. Bora fell onto her knees as she regurgitated all the contents of her stomach into the once spotless toilet bowl.

She heard the restroom door open, but ignored it. She was too distracted with the urge to keep gagging.

“We have to take you to a hospital.” Siyeon mumbled from behind her.

Bora didn’t speak. She was coughing, but nothing else was coming up. She figured she was finally done. The nausea was gone, that was for sure.

“Are you done? Come on.” Siyeon urged, and Bora felt a hand on her back and her shoulder.

Siyeon helped her up and over to the sinks. Bora quickly turned on the water and cupped some in her hands, bringing some up to her mouth. She hated the taste left in her mouth and groaned in annoyance as the water did nothing to help relieve her of it. 

“Can I see your phone please?” Bora gave her a look, “I’m going to search up where the closest E.R is.”

Bora gripped onto the sink. She really didn’t want to go to a hospital. She wasn’t.

“No. I’ll be fine until we get back to Seoul.”

“But—”

“I’ll go then.” Bora told her seriously, “Come on. Let’s go.”

Bora walked past her out the bathroom and Siyeon followed behind her. When they sat back down, the waiter was arriving at the table.

“Can you just bring us our check, please? Also, can you add a glass of whiskey to the bill?”

“Sure.” 

Siyeon looked at Bora with confused eyes and she just shook her head.

“We’ll leave as soon as he comes back.”

“I really think you should go to a hospital.”

“Doesn’t matter what you think.” 

“Either way I’m right.”

Before Bora could say anything, the waiter came back with the check and, most importantly, her drink. Siyeon and him watched in surprise as she downed the whole thing in one go. She pulled out her wallet, which was now in her front pocket and not in her back like it normally was, and gave the waiter her card.

“You shouldn’t be drinking with your injury…”

Bora just ignored her, glad the taste of vomit had been tamed by the drink, and watched for signs of the waiter coming back. Once he did, Bora jumped up and took her bag from Siyeon before leaving. They began walking down the street until Bora stopped, realizing she had no idea where she was going.

“Did the taxi driver say where the port was?”

“He might have… I don’t know.” Siyeon muttered, embarrassed. 

Bora pulled out her phone and searched it up. It was only three blocks away. She began walking again without a word. Her brow twitched in annoyance at herself every time she stumbled over her own feet… She was getting ticked off at the fact that she couldn’t control herself. Siyeon wasn’t helping her temper, sighing behind her every so often, probably noticing her troubles.

“If you pass out again, don’t be surprised if you wake up in a hospital bed.”

Bora fought the urge to hit something, whether it was the streetlight they were passing or just simply the air. She didn’t like this.

She didn’t like it at all.


	12. Chapter 12

For it being practically midnight, the port was quite busy. They ended up having to wait in line for their tickets. They boarded within fifteen minutes of arriving and the deck they were seated on had at least twenty people on it. Again, Bora gave Siyeon the window seat. She figured it would take about three hours for them to get back to Seoul. She had time to get a nice nap in. She definitely needed one. She felt like a zombie, as if she hadn’t slept in a week. It hurt to keep her eyes open. She didn’t want to admit it, but she knew it was because of her head.

“Hey.”

Bora didn’t lift her head off the headrest, but she opened her eyes and looked over to Siyeon.

“You shouldn’t fall asleep. You may not wake back up.”

Bora just looked back forward and closed her eyes again.

“I’m serious.”

Her voice sounded far away. Bora was slipping off into dreamland. Well, she was, until something hit her on her shoulder. The force of the shove moved her a bit, to her surprise, and she sat up straight in an instant. Her temper flared. When she looked towards Siyeon, she had fear in her eyes and Bora remembered who she was dealing with. She calmed down and laid back against her seat again.

“I’d really advise you not to do that again.”

“S—Sorry... but you can’t fall asleep!”

“I’m not just going to sit here. It’s a three-hour trip.” Bora explained, leaving out the part about her head feeling like it was going to explode.

“You have to stay awake!”

“Do you have to be so loud? You’re gonna wake up the whole cabin.”

She mentally smiled at the silence that took over. Siyeon was right, though. It’d be risky to fall asleep. Things were obviously wrong and Bora knew better than to push it. But as she sat there, she realized she really couldn’t help it. When she closed her eyes, things stopped being heavy and got lighter. Her mind started to go blank. She was starting to feel weightless, and the pain attacking the back of her head subsided. How could she not fall asleep like this?

“Yoohyeon said you’ve been in your gang for a long time.” 

“It’s not _my_ gang.” Bora mumbled.

“Oh?”

Siyeon’s voice barely registered. She was more asleep than awake at this point.

“So… So who’s is it?” 

“The woman I brought you to at the base. I could never run things… Wouldn’t want too.” 

“Why is that?”

Bora shook her head slowly against the headrest, “I see what you’re trying to do. I honestly don’t feel like talking right now.”

“Then I’ll just talk, you listen.”

“I don’t—”

“The only reason I’m talking to you is to keep you from dying next to me right now.”

“Didn’t you try to kill me just last night?” Bora lifted her heavy eyelids and looked towards Siyeon with a smirk on her face, “What, you don’t want me dead anymore?”

“You deserve to die...” Siyeon muttered, barely audible. 

“Who are you to say that?”

“Anyone would say that. You’re a killer…”

“My actions don’t make my character.”

“You’re a killer and you always will be. I don’t know how you can live with yourself.”

“It’s pretty easy.”

Siyeon scoffed after that.

“As entertaining as your little arguments are, if you’re just going to talk to me about how despicable I am every time you start a conversation with me then you should just keep it to yourself. You’re not offending me or anything, it’s just annoying.”

“I—”

“And if you really are determined to talk and keep me awake, how about you just talk about yourself.” Bora suggested, closing her eyes again.

“You don’t care about me, though.”

She didn't have the energy to smirk, “You’re right. I don’t. Yoohyeon didn’t either, but you seemed okay sharing with her.” 

“I don’t even know why I was telling her about me…” 

“You probably fell for her ridiculous but indisputable charms.” Bora couldn’t help but chuckle at Siyeon’s frazzled tone, “It’s okay. It happens to the best of us.”

“Did you two… date or something?” she cautiously asked.

“No.”

“Then why did she say—?”

“She was trying to be funny.” 

Bora realized that she almost felt ashamed to admit that her and Yoohyeon had a thing. The only person that knew about it was Minji, and that was because Bora told her when Yoohyeon’s behavior started spiraling out of control. Not only did she feel ashamed, but, for some reason, she felt that telling Siyeon would come back and bite her in the butt next time they saw Yoohyeon. Which, hopefully there wouldn't be a next time. Hopefully, Siyeon would be out of her hands in a week or two.

“She’s… a lesbian, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you…?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Bora was about to speak, but, right as she opened her mouth, a sting of pain shot through her entire head. It didn’t go away and Bora’s breathing quickened automatically. She opened her eyes only to see practically nothing, her vision too distorted to see anything clearly. Her eyes darted around as everything got darker. 

“Bora?”

Next thing she knew, she was asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

“Let go of her!”

Bora’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched the scene play out in front of her.

“Just give us the fucking money, then we’ll talk.” Wooyoung spit back.

The woman duct-taped to the chair next to him was struggling. Her pleas were muffled by the duct tape around her mouth. She hadn’t stopped fighting back. Getting her restrained had been work. At first, Bora had been holding the back of her chair to keep her from flipping herself over. Now, she was standing to the side of the empty warehouse. She wanted to get a better view of what was about to happen. She was envying Wooyoung from afar, wishing that _she_ was the one pressing a gun barrel against the woman’s temple and not him. A smirk tempted her lips upon realizing that she was jealous. 

“Let her go, you bastard!”

Wooyoung laughed wickedly, “Eunbi-ah! Do you think yelling at me is going to do anything? Do you have the money or not?!”

“I didn’t have enough time! Just give me a few more days…! You can’t do this! It’s not her fault!”

“It’s more fun this way…” he grinned and looked towards Bora, “Don’t you think?”

Bora’s eyes flickered to Eunbi’s desperate, tear-filled ones.

“You can’t do this! Don’t let him do this!” she begged.

Bora stood there silently, arms crossed in front of her chest. She grimaced as she looked away from her. She didn’t want to hold her troubled gaze anymore.

“Wooyoung, just shoot her already. Stop torturing her.”

“Say no more.”

“No! Please—!”

**_BANG!_ **

“No!” Eunbi wailed as she ran over to her dead friend. She pushed Wooyoung away from her and fell onto her knees. He just walked away, leaving her to cry behind him. He was stained with blood from the blowback of the shot. When he reached Bora, he frowned a bit.

“You know how much I hate working with dead bodies. You got this?” 

She just nodded.

“Cool.” he patted Bora on the shoulder before leaving the warehouse room.

Bora waited until he was gone to turn her attention to the mess in front of her. She walked past the hysteric lump on the floor and pulled a pocket knife out of her back pocket to begin letting the new deadweight free. As she started slicing through the duct tape around its wrist, Eunbi grabbed her from behind. She spun around instantly.

"How could you let him do this?!" Eunbi cried, hitting Bora with all her might as she got on her feet.

Bora gripped her arms and threw her on the ground.

"You're free to leave now." 

Once again, Bora felt hands on her and was suddenly shoved to the side. She glared at Eunbi, completely in shock of her actions. Who did she think she was? Just as Bora was about to throw her to the side again, she stopped herself at the sight in front of her.

"Gayoon... Gayoon, I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry...! I never thought this would happen! I'm so sorry... So sorry..." she cried into her friend, on her knees, wrapping her arms around the dead woman’s waist. 

Her words became lost as her sobbing became more hysterical. All Bora could hear was “I love you's" and "I'm sorry's.” She watched for minutes at the pathetic display in front of her. She was there watching, but her mind was elsewhere.

She didn't think about it as she drew her pistol and aimed at the completely unaware woman.

**_BANG!_ **

The loud sobbing stopped in an instant.

Bora blinked and felt tears stain her cheeks.

"You're really doing this?!"

The way Handong was screaming at her made her beyond frustrated. She didn’t want to be crying. Handong had the upperhand in this situation and Bora realized she shouldn't have done this at her apartment. She should have done this anywhere but here. She desperately wanted to throw her to the side and walk out the front door, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. That made her even more frustrated.

"Handong, move before I do something stupid." Bora whispered.

"You're doing something stupid right now!" Handong exclaimed harshly, shoving Bora away from her and the front door, "You can't just throw all this away! I love you! You can't... You can't do this!" 

"What am I supposed to do without you?! My whole life revolved around _you_ , Bora! You know that, yet you come here and treat me, treat everything we've had and everything we've been through like shit!"

Bora couldn’t hold her gaze.

"Does that not mean anything to you?! Did _I_ not mean anything to you...?!" Say something!" she cried, stepping away from the door to shove her again. 

Bora yelled back, and Handong gasped in surprise as she was suddenly slammed back against the door, "What the hell do you want me to say?!" 

Bora gripped her shoulders tightly.

"I want you to—!"

"Why don't you listen?!"

"Listen to what?"

"To anyone, Yoohyeon. Why don't you listen?! Have you not learned by now where doing things like this will get you? You saw what Minji did with Hoon!"

"I'm not Hoon." Yoohyeon seriously stated. 

"You're worse than him." 

"Fucking shit, Bora. Thanks!”

“If anyone but me would’ve caught you, you'd be dead."

The atmosphere in the warehouse room was tense. When Bora had walked in, her eyes had immediately landed on the sight of Yoohyeon stuffing a duffel bag with bricks of coke. When Yoohyeon had heard someone else's presence in the room, she’d attempted to run until she’d realized it was Bora. She figured she could talk her way out of it, and she figured right. Bora was conflicted, but they both knew she couldn't rat her out.

"I don't give a fuck about what would've happened or who would've done whatever. Are you going to let me walk out of here or not?" 

"Not with the supplies. Put them back." Bora instructed, pointing at the duffel bag she was holding.

Yoohyeon sighed and threw the bag down. A chuckle left her lips as she begun putting the stuff back where she’d gotten it from.

"You know I'm just going to come and take what I need later, right?"

Bora really wanted to scream. 

Not because she had two men restraining her, but because she was furious about the fact that she had let herself fall into this situation in the first place.

"So, again, who the _fuck_ do you think you are following me around? Huh?" the guy with the gun in his hands asked. 

He had a sparkle in his eyes, as if he was happy. He probably felt like he had accomplished something by capturing her, but he hadn’t. If he wasn't going to die by Bora's hand, it would be by someone else's later. The thought made Bora smirk and before she knew it, the left side of her face stung immensely as his handgun hit it. She spit, still not enjoying the taste of blood, and looked the guy back in the eyes.

"Stop fucking smiling, you bitch. Answer me! Why the hell were you following me?!" 

Bora didn't reply. 

"Let go of her." he instructed.

Bora groaned in relief as the two other men let go of her arms, but then in pain as she felt her legs get kicked from under her. She hit the ground, on her knees, with a thud. The cement of the alleyway was wet, partially because it was raining and partially because of the blood coming from her shoulder wound. If she did make it out of this alive, she'd definitely need stitches. She almost let the rest of her body fall face down. She was dizzy from the loss of blood. But she made sure she kept the bastard's gaze. She was to show no signs of fear. 

"Since you're not gonna talk, I guess I'll just have my fun with you and then leave you here to die. I'm sick of looking at that fucking smug ass face. You fucking bitch!"

Bora winced as the guy bent down and yanked her hair before shoving her head to the side, causing her to fall over completely. As he stepped over her and bent down to grab her shirt, she tried to fight. Her right arm was completely incapable of doing anything due to the three knife wounds on her shoulder. She kicked and tried to push him away with her good arm, but it was all in vain. Any time she'd try something, he'd smack her in the face. Bora's vision was getting blurry fast.

After the fourth hit to the face, she blacked out.

She was awakened by another stinging feeling on her cheek.

"Drive fucking faster, Minji!" 

When Bora opened her eyes, all she saw were black spots in the darkness.

"She's awake!" 

Bora cried out in pain as she was pulled up into Yoohyeon's arms in the backseat of the vehicle. 

"Fuck! Sorry!" Yoohyeon released her immediately, but still held her close, "We got you out of there. We fucking got you out of there." 

She took everything in. She felt something tightly wrapped around her arm and shoulder. Whatever it was, it was completely stained red. Yoohyeon was in tears, looking at her with hopeful eyes. Bora's eyes slowly moved to see who was driving the vehicle. It was too dark to tell. 

"Her eyes are at the back of her fucking head! Come on!" Yoohyeon screamed, but she sounded so distant.

The darkness that quickly took over didn't scare her, but it did scare Yoohyeon. Yoohyeon smacked her face again lightly as Bora lost consciousness for the second time that night. She feared it was the end for her friend. Minji sped as fast as she could through the rainy, dark city streets. In the back of her mind, she was wondering how she was going to handle it if she lost Bora in that moment. She began preparing herself for the worst.

When Bora awoke, her eyes immediately met the figure sitting in the chair across the room. Yoohyeon's eyes widened with surprise. Bora examined her. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was loosely and messily pulled back in a ponytail. She looked sick. A grin slowly formed on her face, and Bora smiled in sincerity. She tried to sit up in the hospital bed, but failed doing so as a sharp pain shot through her shoulder.

"Yah, yah, yah... Don't even try." Yoohyeon instructed softly, getting up out the chair to go to Bora's side.

"How bad is it?"

"Well, they stitched you up. It was pretty bad... You lost a shitload of blood. Minji carried you and by the time we got in the hospital, her whole shirt, pants, everything was stained. We almost lost you, Bora."

"Where's Minji? Is she okay?" Bora was concerned. 

"She's fine... She just couldn't handle being here. I told her to go home and get some fucking rest."

"How long have I...?"

"It's been two days. I told you, you lost a lot of blood. They said your brain swole up pretty bad too." 

Bora just nodded in response. 

"Chae thought something was up when you didn't come back to report. She tracked your cellphone and the bastard's and saw that you guys were in the same spot. So, me and Minji came out there... Just in the fucking nick of time too…” Yoohyeon's anger seeped through her words, “He was about to rape you." 

"I remember him mentioning something about that... Then, I passed out." 

"We blasted all three of the fuckers." she smiled, “Forgot how great of a shot I was.”

Bora felt her hand being grabbed and watched as her fingers intertwined with Yoohyeon's. 

"I was really fucking worried. I thought you were gonna fucking die in my arms in that backseat. I was so fucking scared."

Bora looked up at her. She now had tears in her eyes.

"Well, thankfully, I didn't... Don't cry over me, Yoohyeon, at least not in front of me. I'll never be able to look at you the same again." she smirked.

"Hey, when do I ever take things this seriously? You should be happy. Are you telling me that you wouldn't cry over me if I almost fucking died right in front of you?"

"You realize that's already happened once right? Did I cry?"

"No."

"There's your answer." 

“Fucking bitch." 

"If I'm ever around, there's no way you'll ever die right in front of me. If anyone, I'll be the one to kill you." Bora smirked, squeezing her hand.

"I feel the love." Yoohyeon laughed before returning to a more serious, relieved tone, "I'm really glad you're alright."

"Yeah." 

"Wow." 

Bora shook her head. She was honestly in disbelief. 

"It was going to happen at some point." Minji shrugged. 

Bora got up and went to her wine fridge to get a new bottle.

"You really do love this woman..." Bora couldn't help but smile at her friend. She could tell she was happy, even underneath that serious expression, and Bora was happy for her too.

"I suppose I do, huh?" Minji cracked another smile.

"Aren't you concerned about her safety?" 

"Well, I'll be able to protect her if something happens. Her and I talked about this a long time ago, but I've been holding it off because of that very reason. But she’s been stuck on me moving in with her." Minji chuckled, "I think she'll think I'll change now, being around her 24/7."

"That'd be something, wouldn't it?" 

“That's what I said."

"So, housewarming party?" Bora asked with a smirk on her face.

Minji rolled her eyes, "Mina would love that."

"I'm happy for you." 

"Although it isn't _that_ big of a deal, thank you. I know it's hard to believe, but I really do care for her. I love her profusely."

Bora just smiled at the statement. Times like these were ones where she wished she could relate. Her mind went to Handong, whom after several years of being together was someone she hadn't loved. She’d never seen the brightness Minji had in her eyes in her own and she had most certainly had never felt it. If she had never loved Handong, then why was it so hard to let go of her? She wasn’t sure of the answer. Maybe it was just because she felt bad for her.

Did she love Yoohyeon? Most definitely not. It’d even be a long shot to say that she loved Yoohyeon as simply a friend. 

What about her family? Although, she could probably blame it on the fact that she hadn’t seen any of them in years, she really had no strong loving feeling towards them either. She couldn’t recall a time when she had. Of course, she'd appreciated her family when she was little, but as she grew older she realized that there was nothing special about her parents being affectionate and caring. It was, luckily for her, part of their DNA. That was all there was to it. That didn’t adjure love, did it?

“Bora! Bora...!

She shot up out of her seat, suddenly feeling a hard, short smack to the face.

Her eyes darted around in confusion. It took her a few seconds to realize what had happened. The pain in her head also reminded her. Some people turned to stare, but she ignored it. She felt something tug on her arm. Siyeon was looking at her with apprehensive eyes and Bora slowly sat back down in her seat.

“The ferry is about to dock…” she muttered.

Bora felt for her cellphone in her pants pocket where she had thought she’d put it. She became confused when she felt nothing and felt around her coat pockets, finally finding the thing. 

She decided to ignore the fact that she had passed out again. Siyeon probably knew better than to say anything about it. Once they got home, she was going to see a doctor. This couldn’t keep happening. It wasn’t like she could have gone anywhere anyway, but, once again, Bora was surprised Siyeon was still with her. 

She groaned quietly as her cellphone screen lit up. The time was 3:45 a.m. 

She waited patiently for Minji to answer her call.

“Bora?”

“The boat is about to dock. Did Eunji move my car?”

“Yeah, it’s waiting for you there… Bora, are you going to be able to drive?” Minji seemed concerned.

“What?”

“Yoohyeon called and said you got injured pretty badly. You can’t drive anywhere if you keep passing out. I’ve been waiting for you to call, so I know whether or not I have to come get you.”

“Yoohyeon called you?” Bora’s head spun at the thought. She was losing her mind. She didn’t remember telling Yoohyeon anything at all… Because she _hadn’t_ told Yoohyeon anything. Her eyes fell onto Siyeon, who was keeping her gaze on the hands in her lap. 

“Yeah. What the hell happened?”

“I got hit in the head. I’ll be seeing a doctor when we get back.” 

“Please do. Drive safely back. How’d the girl fare?”

“The girl?” Bora repeated on purpose, catching Siyeon’s attention, “Fine. I don’t know how I feel about taking her with me on jobs. I don’t want to have to do this for long.”

“You shouldn’t have too. Another week or so and I’ll let Wooyoung deal with her. Unless, you’d rather do it yourself.”

“We’ll see.” 

“Call me when you arrive home. I’d like to know that you didn’t end up wrapping yourself around a telephone pole.” Minji chuckled a bit, but was serious nonetheless. 

“Bye.” 

When Bora looked back to Siyeon, she’d almost caught her gaze. 

“Did you call Yoohyeon?”

“I… I didn’t know what else to do! I called her to let her know what was going on because I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake back up or if we’d be able to get out of here. I didn’t want to get someone on the boat… So, I got your phone and called Yoohyeon. I—”

“Just stop talking. Please.” Bora begged, Siyeon’s scared and child-like voice annoying her.

“I’m sorry—”

“Can you drive?”

Siyeon just nodded.

“We’re going straight to the E.R once we get off. If I’m not mistaken, there’s one only twenty minutes away from the port. I’ll get checked out, and then we’ll go home.”

“Home?” Siyeon shook her head, “Your house… That’s not my home.”

“I don’t really care what you want to call it.” 

Just then, a loud voice from the intercom filled the cabin informing everyone that they were docking.


	14. Chapter 14

Time went by quickly. Despite Siyeon being a decent driver, Bora was on edge the entire ride to the E.R. Much to her annoyance, she needed Siyeon to help her fill out the paperwork too. Her head was hurting so badly it was hard to focus. It was a short wait and Siyeon stayed in the waiting area while Bora went in to see a doctor. 

After cleaning the wound up, he made her take an MRI and did a few checks on her senses before letting her know what was going on.

“Luckily, it’s small, but a cerebral contusion is still a cerebral contusion.” he explained, showing her the MRI scans.

Bora grimaced. 

“There is definitely some swelling of the brain tissue, but there’s no bleeding. We can give you medicine to tame that. The only thing you can do is keep watch of your symptoms. If you notice anything strange, forget things more often than normal, or keep passing out, then you should definitely come back at once. I highly recommend you come back for another MRI in two weeks… Just to be safe.”

On that note, Bora was dismissed and given a prescription for the anti-inflammatory pills the doctor had talked about.

“What’d they say?” Siyeon asked, quickly getting up as Bora walked past her towards the exit.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Was it not that bad?”

“Where did we park?” Bora breathed into the cold air as they exited the hospital. 

“Over there. Are you going to answer me or not?”

Bora just went off towards the car and Siyeon scurried along behind her. She just wanted to go home. Bora turned on the car, turned up the heat, and buckled up but stopped in her tracks when Siyeon caught her eye. She was still standing outside the car, just gazing at her through the window.

“Get in the car, please.”

“Are you sure you can drive?” Siyeon frowned.

“Yes. Get in the car.” 

Bora waited with expectant eyes. 

“If you don’t get in the car, I will drive off.”

Siyeon fidgeted before running around to her side and getting in.

Bora, wary of her current condition, drove normally. She wasn’t sure, but she remembered reading somewhere that brain contusions could take a few weeks to completely heal. She hoped her dizziness and random episodes wouldn’t last that long. Really, she hoped they’d be gone by tomorrow, but that wasn’t practical. There was no possible way she could work in this condition. She’d be quite content with that, if it wasn’t for the fact that it just meant she’d have to be around Siyeon even more. She had planned on just locking her in her room the next time she had a job, but now she was going to be stuck at home with her for at least a week or two until the symptoms disappeared. 

“So, what happens now?” 

“We go home.”

“That’s not my—”

“I told you, I don’t care what you want to call it.” Bora mumbled, stopping at a redlight.

“That’s not what I meant anyway. I mean like, what happens now? Do you just kill people and move onto the next one?” 

She seemed genuinely curious.

“I’ll go and get my payment from Minji tomorrow, then wait for another job. That’s how it goes.”

“Minji? Is she that lady that you brought me—”

“Yes.”

“Yoohyeon told me she got almost 10,000,000 won in just two weeks, just selling drugs… It’s unbelievable.” Siyeon muttered, “You people make more than I do in a month…”

Bora smirked at the remark, “You and Yoohyeon really did talk, huh?”

“She was really nice to me. She told me stuff about you too.”

“I’m supposed to care, right?” 

“I feel bad for you.” she simply stated.

“Thanks.”

Bora kicked it into high gear when they got closer to her house, not caring about what could possibly happen. She just wanted to be home already. She ended up missing the turn onto her street and she didn’t realize it until she had driven back out of the neighborhood. She bit her tongue and tried to focus as she went back around. Siyeon had no clue of course that she had gone past her own house, but it still infuriated Bora to no end. When she finally got them to her house, she didn’t even park her car in the garage. She pulled into the driveway and got out of the car without a word. Siyeon followed, being left behind as Bora got to the front door. When Siyeon reached her, she became surprised when Bora slammed her fist onto the door. Siyeon watched with fear and confusion in her eyes.

“What… What is it?” 

“Nothing.” Bora grumbled under her breath as she tried it again.

She couldn’t unlock her door. The more she tried to focus on the keyhole, the more off she was when she tried to put the key in. She wanted to blame it on the darkness, but she knew that was only a small part of it. She groaned and threw her keys on the ground before walking away from the door, running her hands through her hair. Siyeon just watched. Bora took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She felt silly but she was so frustrated with herself that she couldn’t help it. There was nothing she could do about her sudden handicap. Nothing at all. 

“H—Here. I got it.” 

She turned around and watched as Siyeon grabbed her keys off the ground and unlocked her door. That made her even more angry, as she hadn’t wanted help with it. She let out a shaky sigh. 

_At least I can go in now_ , she thought.

Bora walked in past her as she took the keys from her hand. Siyeon followed and shut the door quietly.

“Come on.” she called back, making her way up the stairs and leaving Siyeon standing there in the kitchen.

She waited near Siyeon’s new room as she came up the stairs. One she got close, Bora urged her in. She followed her and looked for the door key that she usually left on the dresser in the room. Once she found it, she went back to the door to lock it.

“I’m going to bed. I’ll come get you in the morning.” 

“What if you don’t wake up? What if I have to go to the bathroom or something? What if—?”

“Do you have to go now?”

“No.”

“Okay. Goodnight.” Bora grumbled, closing the door.

“Hey!” 

As soon as she stepped over the threshold to her room, she began stripping out of her clothes. Once she was in just her wife-beater and underwear, she went under her covers and got settled before she let out an elongated sigh. She still had an itching urge to hit something and pull her hair out. This was going to drive her crazy. Especially if Siyeon kept having to help her with simple things like opening a damn door. She wasn’t sure what bothered her more: the fact that she couldn’t function normally or the fact that she needed to rely on someone to get things done. Because if things kept going the way they were, she would. If Siyeon wasn’t there, she would’ve needed Minji.

The thought of her friend made her sit back up. She reached over onto the nightstand and grabbed her cellphone.

“I see you made it home okay.” Minji spoke, picking up after the second ring.

_She must have been waiting for me to call._

“Yeah. I went to the hospital. It’s a small brain contusion. I should be fine soon enough.” Bora informed, hoping the last statement would be true.

“I guess you can’t really go do anything in your condition. I’ll be free tonight, so I’ll come by and drop off your payment. I’ll give you Yoohyeon’s too because I have no idea when she’s coming back, despite what I said.” 

“Hopefully not for awhile…” Bora thought aloud, making Minji chuckle.

“Should I even ask what happened this time?”

“It’s unimportant now.” Bora waved off the topic, as if she was in front of her, “You didn’t have to wait for me to call, Minji. I’m sure someone is missing you in bed.”

“Actually no. Mina is staying with her mother for the weekend, possibly longer. I’m not sure, honestly.” 

“I see.”

Bora waited patiently through the silence.

“I think she wants out.” Minji finally sighed.

“Did she say that?”

“We argued about it yesterday morning, after I got off the phone with you both. I think she was trying to give me an ultimatum. _You’re not with me anymore. I don’t even feel like we’re together. I can’t be with someone who isn’t here…!”_ Minji mocked half-halfheartedly, “ _How can you expect me to spend the rest of my life with you when you’re like this?”_

“I told her I never expected her too… I left to go work on some things, came back, and she was gone. She left a note about how she needed to go think about things. I called her mother and she told me that she was staying with her.”

“You know where you messed up.” Bora smiled in sympathy.

Minji let out a short laugh, “Yeah.”

“I highly doubt she’d leave you. Give her time, but explain yourself when you get the chance.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do if she does...” she muttered after another moment of silence.

“Just give her time.” Bora reassured, “Now, go to bed.”

“I think I may have a drink first, but goodnight. I’ll stop by in the evening.”

“Goodnight.” 

She looked at the time before she put her phone down. It was almost six o’clock in the morning. Was it really worth trying to sleep now? There was morning light slowly brightening up her dark bedroom, but that didn’t stop her from letting her heavy eyelids crash down. She was out within the minute.

For once, in a very long time, her mind was blank as she drifted off into a deep sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

When Bora woke up, it was almost five in the afternoon. She hadn’t planned on sleeping so late into the day, but she wasn’t going to complain. Her head wasn’t aching as much anymore. When she sat up in bed, she was grateful that her head didn’t spin. 

It’d been a long time since she had gotten injured on a job. In fact, her last serious injury had been when she had gotten her shoulder sliced up by a target of hers. That was years ago. Normally, she was good with hand-to-hand combat. She may not have been the strongest person, but she was swift. Not only that, but she knew what she was doing. If fighting senselessly got you anywhere, it was in the ground.

She dragged herself out of bed, tempted to go back to sleep. As she made her way to her closet, she tripped over something. It was the bag of clothes that she had packed for Siyeon.

_ Siyeon. _

At the thought, she quickly grabbed a random pair of sweatpants and put them on before leaving her room. She got to the Siyeon’s door, but then realized she had forgotten about the key. Once she came back with it, she hurried to unlock the door. She became confused at the sight of an empty bed. Her eyes darted around frantically as she stepped in. First, she noticed the wet feeling under her feet. Then, she heard the crying. Her eyes fell down next to her and there she met the sight of Siyeon, lying on the ground against the wall with her knees to her chest. It took Bora a moment to connect the dots.

“Siyeon.”

Siyeon’s eyes were bloodshot, filled with tears.

“Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.” she muttered, extending a hand out.

Siyeon sniffed. She looked like hell. When Siyeon finally reached out and took her hand, Bora pulled her up carefully. She led her to the bathroom while sounds of her sobs followed with her. She left her to stand in the bathroom alone after she wiped her feet off with a nearby towel, and then went to get the new clothes she had bought for her. She pulled out a pair of sweats then swiftly made her way back. 

“I’m sorry.” she insisted, placing all of the new things on the sink counter, “Things happen. It’s nothing to cry over. Just take a shower and get yourself cleaned up. I’ll be downstairs.”

With that, Bora left and closed the bathroom door. She went downstairs and managed to find cleaning supplies and paper towels. When she made her way back upstairs, she heard the shower water running. She was able to clean up the mess in a few minutes time. She was a bit aggravated, but it was her own fault. As she was throwing away the plastic bag she had put all the used paper towels in, she heard a knock at the door. She cursed mentally, remembering that Minji said she was planning on stopping by that evening. When she opened the door, she was met with her friend’s amused expression.

“Did you just wake up or something?”

“More or less.” Bora sighed, leaving the door to walk into the living room.

“Slept all day, huh?” Minji chuckled, following Bora to go sit on the couch, “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” 

“Yoohyeon flew back in today. I saw her already, so I gave her what she earned. Has she called you or come by yet? She seemed really worried about you.”

“She may have. I haven’t checked my phone.”

“I asked her what happened to piss you off and her exact words were, “She was just being an uptight bitch.” 

“Of course.” 

Bora was already over it. Really, she was used to Yoohyeon’s antics by now. 

“You should talk to her, by the way.”

“Why?”

“The other reason I sent her with you was to see if you’d notice anything off about her…”

Bora raised an eyebrow. 

“I’ve known that she’s still been using, but she seems to be doing it... a lot more. I asked some of tier three to double check our inventory as often as possible because I thought she was stealing from us. She isn’t, thankfully. But I’m still concerned. I wanna know where she’s getting her stuff from.” 

She was glad that Yoohyeon wasn’t stupid enough to take things from their own inventory again. She was also glad that Minji hadn’t reacted this way when Yoohyeon had _actually_ been stealing from them. She didn’t voice it, but Yoohyeon was Yoohyeon. Her using had nothing to do with Bora. She didn’t plan on talking to her about it at all.

“I can see what info I can get from her, if you really want.” 

“You know how she is… Hey, Bora.” Minji’s gaze shifted and Bora turned around.

Her eyes met doe-like ones gazing at them both from the bottom of the stairway. Siyeon looked better, but her eyes looked dead. Bora wondered if she had even slept last night. 

“Go back upstairs. I’ll get you when we’re done.” she instructed.

Siyeon looked at Minji with a blank expression before walking back upstairs.

“Are you really okay with keeping her here? There was stuff on the news last night about her disappearance. They’ve connected her to Sungwoo's death. It may just be better to go ahead and kill her now. People are looking for her.” 

“It’d probably be better to go with the original plan. As long as I don’t have to do anymore travelling any time soon, working with her here will be no problem.”

“If you say so.” Minji shrugged, “Do you feel alright? If so, I’ll be heading out.”

Bora smiled, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” 

Bora walked Minji out and sighed before closing the door. When she went upstairs, she ended up walking past Siyeon who was in the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. Bora stood in the doorway and waited patiently for her to finish. She noted her soiled clothes in the sink and decided she’d just throw them away. She was surprised when Siyeon threw the towel to the side and slid right past her, out the bathroom, and to her room. Bora took a moment to process her actions, then followed her. When she entered the room, Siyeon was sitting on her bed, watching the doorway as if she was waiting for her to come. 

“I was banging on the door for hours...” Siyeon muttered, extremely hoarse.

“I would’ve come if I’d heard you. I was asleep all day. Just be glad I’m still alive and was able to let you out.”

Siyeon’s gaze fell.

“I’m going to get cleaned up and then we’ll go get some food.” Bora looked at her expectantly, wondering if she was even listening. She sighed after a moment and just closed the door. 

Bora made her way to the shower, making the water scalding hot. She stripped out of her sweats and such before she sat on the closed toilet seat. Within minutes, the room was filled with relaxing steam.

_ “Are you really okay with keeping her here?” _

No. She wasn’t.

_ “It may just be better to go ahead and kill her now.” _

She knew that. Hell, it would’ve been better to kill her when she'd first laid eyes on her. At the thought of killing her now, the only thing that came to Bora’s mind was that pathetic, desperate face. If she didn’t do it by surprise, there would probably be those damn tears too. She could do it in her sleep. Bora very well could smother her to death, but the thought of that made her feel ill. She never liked slow, agonizing jobs. That was more of Wooyoung’s thing. 

Having to sit over a person while they struggled and slowly died was a bit much. At least when she took a person out with one or two shots, she didn’t have to think about it for too long. Maybe she _needed_ to think about it, though. Her skin was thick, but not thick enough for her liking. 

She’d have to get Wooyoung to do it.

She took a quick shower, even though the hot water was begging for her to stay. Not wanting to take the time to completely dry her hair, she just fluffed it around with a towel before putting it in a slick ponytail. In her robe that she always kept hanging on the back of the bathroom door, she went to her room to get dressed. In a simple white long sleeve shirt, jeans, and her boots, she went to go fetch Siyeon. When she walked in the room, her brow furrowed.

On her side, Siyeon was at the end of the bed, knocked out.

“Come on. Get up.” Bora instructed loudly, wanting her to wake up. 

Her voice having no effect on her whatsoever, she strode over and shook her shoulder. She woke up then, but was in a complete daze.

“Come on. We’re getting you food.” 

She left her and went downstairs. By the time she got her car keys off the counter, Siyeon had joined her. Urging her out the front door, she grimaced upon walking outside. She’d underestimated the weather. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but the sun was barely heating anything. It was starting to set. When she sat in the driver’s seat, the cold leather froze her through her clothes. She quickly cranked up the heat and the seat warmers. 

“What do you want?”

“Why are you even asking me?”

Bora smirked. Siyeon really did have an on/off switch. She couldn’t take her snarkiness seriously due to her scratchy voice. She must’ve been crying all day.

“Are you going to tell me what you want or not?”

“I don’t care.” Siyeon muttered.

Bora nodded, already having a place in mind, “Okay then.”

“Did she give you your next job?”

“What?”

“Your boss… She was here earlier.” 

“No. I’m not gonna have a job for awhile.” 

Bora honestly wasn’t sure if she was thankful or bitter about it.

“Good.”

Bora eyed her skeptically, but Siyeon was staring out the window. Bora just shook her head and continued to focus on the road. Much to her liking, it stayed quiet after that. The restaurant she wanted to go to wasn’t very far away. After telling Siyeon to wait in the car, she put in a to-go order for their food. When they handed her the bags of food, the smell made her realize how hungry she was. She realized that she hadn’t eaten since Tokyo. 

She quickly hurried back out to the car and put the food in the backseat. 

“Can we turn on the radio?” Siyeon piped up as soon as they took off.

“The radio.” Bora repeated in annoyance. 

She supposed it was a simple request and she didn’t know why it irked her. She held back a sigh and turned the radio on. It was still stuck on CD mode, as she never listened to the radio. Every once in a while she would listen to the morning news, but usually she’d pop in one of the many CDs she kept in her glove compartment.

The sound of soft piano and violins suddenly filled the car.

The familiar tune made Bora feel quite at ease instantly. Her normal urge to speed down the streets faded. Wanting to enjoy the music, she began driving normally.

“You usually listen to things like this?”

Bora gave a short nod, “Usually.”

“Oh… Do you listen to other stuff?” 

“I do, but I’d rather listen to this, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s pretty…” Siyeon mumbled after a few minutes.

The sun was hidden by the time they got back to Bora’s. 

She pulled out the to-go box of food for Siyeon and sat it down on the coffee table,  “Assuming you like  yangjimeori…”

Sitting on the couch, Siyeon opened it and her eyes widened as she took in the meal. Bora set her own box down before going to the kitchen to get plates and chopsticks. She poured two glasses of water and brought those in as well. She sat down on the loveseat opposite of Siyeon and immediately began fixing her plate. The smell of the steak was almost mouthwatering. She felt Siyeon’s eyes on her and looked up at her with questioning eyes. 

“Thank you.” 

Bora just nodded in response.

They ate quietly. Bora practically inhaled hers. She had a soft spot for any type of beef. It seemed Siyeon enjoyed it too. Bora figured the next time she went grocery shopping, she’d stock up on steak. Then, Siyeon could fix her own food. She wasn’t sure which was more complicated, going out all the time or just cooking at home. She’d have to figure out what else Siyeon liked.

“Jieun—?”

“Jieun?” Siyeon repeated, confused by the random name. 

Bora had stopped herself as soon as the name had left her lips.

“I meant Siyeon.” she grimaced. That was the second time her sister had come to mind since that damn fight. That made her a bit uneasy for some reason. She tried again, “What kind of things do you eat? I don’t want to buy a whole bunch of random things at the grocery store.” 

“I… I like rice.” Siyeon said thoughtfully, bringing a piece of beef to her mouth.

Bora let out a short, sarcastic laugh.

“That would explain why you’re so skinny… Can I just assume basic, traditional things?”

“Sure.” Siyeon mumbled before asking, “Who’s Jieun?”

Bora debated answering the question momentarily, but she figured the information was harmless.

“She’s my younger sister.”

“Does your sister do this stuff too?” 

“Of course not.” Bora smiled, “She’s off on her own somewhere, doing, hopefully, better things with her life.”

“Does she know you’re a murderer?” 

“Yes.” 

Standing up, she took her plate to the kitchen and laid it on the counter. She began running dish water and, soon enough, she heard soft footsteps from behind her. Siyeon placed her plate next to Bora’s.

“You guys aren’t close?”

“Would you want to be close to your gang member, drug dealing, gun-carrying sibling?” Bora smirked, watching the water fill the sink, “Her feelings are understandable.”

“Well—”

Just as she spoke, there was a loud knock at the door. Siyeon looked a bit frightened. Bora was unsure of who it was until she heard a muffled “Hello?!” come from the other side of the door. She groaned before leaving the kitchen.

“You’re actually alive!” Yoohyeon exclaimed as soon as she opened the door.

“Yeah. It—”

“Well, that’s good to know. I was fucking worried, but I figured Siyeon would’ve called again if something happened. So, I wasn’t too worried.” 

“Why—?”

Yoohyeon started, sliding past her inside the house, “So, anyway, I was thinking…” 

Bora just closed her eyes and sighed before closing the door, knowing it would be more work than it was worth to try and kick Yoohyeon out. 

“Can I get something to drink? I know you stay stocked with booze.” she smirked, walking backwards towards the kitchen.

“If I give you a drink, will you leave sooner rather than later?” Bora mumbled, skeptical of Yoohyeon’s behavior, and followed her.

“Maybe. Oh, hey, Siyeon-ah.” 

Bora walked past Yoohyeon, who had a goofy grin on her face as she gazed at Siyeon. She pulled out a glass and grabbed a random bottle of whiskey from her liquor cabinet. She poured Yoohyeon some, debating whether or not to pour some for herself as well and, when she turned back around, Yoohyeon was sitting on a stool at the kitchen island. 

“Here.” 

“Ah! Great!” Yoohyeon grabbed the glass and downed some, “Oh yeah, so, I was thinking.”

“About what?” 

“Okay, so we all have souls, right? But  _ we  _ live in Seoul. Isn’t that cool?” Yoohyeon laughed loudly, throwing back her head, “It’s great.”

“I got the strong urge to smack you in the face just now, Yoohyeon.” 

“Smack me around, babe. You know I like being manhandled.” 

Bora could only laugh, “Remind you of your childhood?” 

“Very funny.” she rolled her eyes, holding her now empty glass out in front of her, “Gimme more.”

“Can’t you get drunk elsewhere?”

“I could, but I can’t fuck the bartender at Rouge… Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“You’re frisky tonight…” Bora muttered as she reluctantly took Yoohyeon's glass and refilled it. 

“No, I’m horny. Kaeun is pissed at me.” 

“I’m sure her anger is justified.”

“She went through my phone and saw all Yuri’s angry messages about what happened.” she exclaimed, looking frustrated, “If I knew that I’d be sleeping on the couch for two weeks and not getting any, I would’ve fucked the bitch again before I left.”

“Will probably be longer than that.” Bora smirked.

“Probably. I’m stressed out. Let me use you as a stress doll.” 

“I’m not going to sleep with you, Yoohyeon. It isn’t even a tempting idea.” she shook her head.

“Then who is?”

“No one in this house.” 

Her gaze followed Yoohyeon’s. She frowned. She had completely forgotten about Siyeon, who was sitting on the counter. She’d just been watching. Despite all the question asking she’d been doing a second ago, she was now surprisingly quiet. Her eyes fell down to the ground. 

“No one in this house.” Bora repeated louder, trying to get Yoohyeon’s attention.

“You don’t know her life! She might want to! Stop trying to control her, Bora.” 

“I— I don’t want to sleep with you.” Siyeon mumbled, not looking up from the ground.

“Come on, babe. It’s not like you’re getting any here… or are you?” 

“No.” 

“I guess there’s a reason Minji runs things and you don’t.” Yoohyeon laughed, “She’d never pass up such an opportunity. What a waste.” 

“Minji isn’t like you, Yoohyeon. Thank god. Nor am I.” 

“Yeah, I forgot. You don’t spread your legs for anybody nowadays, do—?”

“I’m about to throw you out of my house.” 

A smirk appeared on her face as she cocked her head to the side, “I’ll even let you call me Handong while we fuck…”

“Get out.”

She just laughed, “ _ Still  _ sensitive about it, huh? How’s she doing anyway?”

“You know we don’t talk anymore.” 

The urge to yank Yoohyeon out of the bar stool was growing stronger, but Bora stayed calm.

“I heard she’s dating some catalog model.” 

"Well, good for her.” Bora answered plainly, really not even thinking about it.

“Bitter?”

“Not at all.”

“Handong seemed like a good fuck. I don’t know why you let her go… She looked like a screamer. So, I get why you guys were together for so long. I—”

“Yoohyeon, get out of my house. You got your alcohol and you can obviously see that I’m okay. You can go.” 

“Definitely bitter!” Yoohyeon laughed loudly as she hopped off the bar stool.

Bora just ignored her and watched her leave. When she heard the door shut, she let out a sigh of relief. It was one thing dealing with Yoohyeon when she was sober, but dealing with her high or drunk always wore her temper quickly. She had no filter either way, but at least when she was sober, she had some sense of what she was saying. The thought that Bora had given her alcohol to mix with whatever substance was in her body didn’t really occur to her until Yoohyeon left. A twinge of worry went through her, but Yoohyeon had walked out of her house just fine. Plus, she had driven over there. She would probably have no trouble driving back. She had a pretty high tolerance when it came to just about anything since she had tried just about everything.

Bora sighed, going back to the sink to begin cleaning their dishes, “Sorry about her.”

“You have a lot of alcohol…” 

Siyeon was now at her liquor cabinet. 

Bora focused on the dishes. 

“So about your sister, don’t you worry about not being there for her?”

“It was her choice, not mine.”

“Is that what happened with Handong? That was your ex, right…?”

The question took her a bit off guard.

“I’m glad you’re not hysterically crying like normal… So, I suppose I can’t complain about your chattiness.” Bora stated, putting a dish on the rack.

“Well, it’s not like I don’t have a reason to cry.” 

“You don’t.”

“You’re kidding, right?” 

“Death is a part of life. You're wasting your time crying over it. You may have cared about Sungwoo, but his life was insignificant. All of ours are. If you’re upset about me holding you here, you really have no reason to cry. If you want to cry over something logical, cry over your own stupidity. You’ve had plenty of opportunities to get out of here, but you never took any of them.” 

Siyeon's rising voice lowered, "You don't think I've done that already...?" 

Bora started at her, studying her solemn expression. 

"I didn't mean to come off as harsh. I was just telling the truth." she reprimanded honestly, not wanting Siyeon to start crying.

"You're always harsh..." Siyeon said under her breath, but Bora caught it. She shook her head before suddenly pointing at her liquor cabinet and asking,  "Can I have some of this?" 

"Some of what?" Bora narrowed her eyes. She had a decades old bottle of Yamazaki malt whiskey that she most certainly wasn't going to open just for her.

"Anything. I just want to get drunk." 

ΩΩΩΩ

Bora indulged in her requests every time. Watching Siyeon slowly but surely lose her grip on reality was quite amusing. For such a petite girl, she was able to hold her alcohol well, but when it hit her, it was easy to tell. By the fourth shot of tequila, Siyeon's words were slurring. By the seventh shot, she wasn't able to sit up straight in her chair. Also, by the seventh shot, she had become more talkative than she had been since Bora had taken her. 

"I... I'll never understand what... you!" 

Bora could only infer what she was saying at this point. But for the past ten minutes, she had been going on about how “evil” and “horrible” she was. Siyeon was becoming infuriated because of Bora’s silence. She didn’t feel the need to respond to anything she was saying and just let her vent. Maybe after this, Siyeon wouldn’t be so emotional all the time.

“Why don’t you… just kill me?! It’s pointless…!” she exclaimed from the loveseat across from Bora,  “I don’t want to be here! I… But I can’t blame you for this.”

Bora raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not like I was happy before this… I wasn’t doing— I bet no one is even looking for me. My parents are divorced and we’re not even a family. I haven’t seen them in years! Sungwoo is paying for my school and— I— I haven’t done anything… anything for myself. I never had anything to begin with!”

Siyeon started crying and let her head fall in her hands. She began mumbling things, but Bora couldn’t understand it even if she tried too. Her eyes looked to the clock on the wall and she figured the time and Siyeon's crying was a good sign that it was time to retire.

“I think you’ve had enough.” Bora informed her, getting up and stretching before walking over to Siyeon, “Come on. You’re going to bed.”

Bora reached to help her up and was surprised when Siyeon stood and pushed her away.

“How can you live with yourself, but I can’t?!” she shrieked, “I should hate you!”

Bora reached for her again and this time was successful in grabbing her. Siyeon tried to shake away and push her again, but only caused herself to stumble into her. Bora’s eyes widened as she felt Siyeon grip onto her as she cried. Unsure of what to do and resisting the urge to throw her off of her, Bora just stood there.

“I should hate you…”

As her sobs got louder, Bora bit the inside of her cheek, unable to push her away. 


	16. Chapter 16

If Bora hated anything more than the cold, it was snow.

Winter had completely taken over Seoul. The only thing that kept her from complaining about it all the time was the very rare days when the snow perfectly quilted everything. She can’t remember a time in her childhood when she’d ever seen snow. So, although it was freezing, messed up her car, and prevented her from driving the way she wanted to-- On occasion, it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.

But the stunning snowy landscapes didn’t stop Siyeon from complaining about it one bit.

In fact, the only thing that stopped Siyeon from complaining, about anything, was Bora. The only thing that stopped Siyeon from even speaking was Bora. Which, Bora had been having to glare at her and demand her to be quiet a lot lately. Much to her dismay, Siyeon had become a bit more comfortable in her home the past month. Then again, it was much more preferred than Siyeon crying and screaming at her. So, she couldn’t complain.

After that drunken, questionable tirade Siyeon had gone on, things changed. Well,  _ she _ changed. She became much more talkative, more snarky, but more calm as well. She asked Bora a lot of questions about herself and her life, most of which Bora never answered. She would randomly share bits of her own life story and Bora would be forced to listen. 

Sometimes, Siyeon showed her true colors. 

She’d tried to talk Bora into letting her go again. Being very passive-aggressive about it, it annoyed Bora to no end. She hadn’t particularly meant to, but Bora had snapped at her a bit and she’d ended up throwing one of her fits. The next day though, Siyeon went back to being pleasant. It made Bora feel a bit uneasy about her, and she really wondered what was going on through her head. 

Her own head had healed up just fine. She’d been mostly working on things at base with Minji, but had been given one job a week or two ago. She’d completed it effortlessly and it made her satisfied to be back doing work. Things were back to normal for the most part, aside from having Siyeon with her. She probably would’ve been used to having her around by now though, but she was just so unpredictable. Bora knew better than to let herself get comfortable with the situation. She was hoping it would be over within the next few weeks. 

“They’re on Christmas break. There should be no one there.” Minji explained, going over all the details again.

Her next target was some college professor. He tricked one of their guys out of thousands of won. He was going to the college campus with intentions of buying again. Bora would be the one cashing out instead, though. It was a simple and easy setup. Bora knew she’d have no trouble with it and was eager to get it over with. It was almost midnight and she’d been ready for bed several hours ago.

“Gotcha.” 

Ending the call, she grabbed her keys. She turned off all the lights and when she opened her front door to leave she heard something that made her stop.

“Bora!”

She grimaced, one foot over the threshold. Reluctantly, she walked back in and made her way upstairs. She felt around for the room key in her pocket and unlocked it.

“Can I go?”

Bora narrowed her eyes. Siyeon, who had been in a t-shirt and sweatpants three hours ago, was now dressed in jeans and a coat. She had her shoes on as well. The expectant doe-eyes were boring into Bora’s and she resisted the urge to shut the door.

“No.”

Siyeon stopped her from closing the door, “Why?”

“I’m going on a job.” 

“I know. I wanna go.”

“You can’t go with me, and I don’t want you to go with me.”

“But--”

“Whether you move your hands or not, I will still shut this door and if I break fingers, I’m not taking you to E.R tonight.” Bora grumbled seriously.

“You’re such a violent person…”

Bora just stood there, eyebrows raised, wondering what Siyeon’s decision was going to be.

“Can I please go? I won’t get in your way. I just wanna get out of the house… Please?” she begged, making Bora’s eyebrow twitch. 

It was an easy job… Really, there would be no way that Siyeon could get in the way even if she wanted too, which she very well might’ve. Bora huffed before leaving her door and walking down the hall, not wanting to look at her desperate eyes anymore. She heard her footsteps behind her, but didn’t wait as she walked outside. The car was parked on the street, and Bora wore a frown the whole time her feet were crunching through the snow. She got in the car and looked across out the passenger window to see Siyeon busy with her door, probably locking it. After a second, she quickly jogged over to the car.

“It’s so cold.” she whined, barely audible. 

Bora quickly turned on the heat and seat warmers. With that, they were off. The campus was a good half-hour away from their current location and it annoyed Bora that she couldn’t cut that time down at all. She needed to get new tires. She’d have to talk to Eunji and see if she could get her some. If she had to drive this slow all the time, she’d end up pushing her luck and probably killing herself in the process. 

“Where are we going?” 

“You’ll see.”

“Do you ever get nervous doing this...?” she asked, and Bora could feel her gaze.

“No.”

“I would be.”

There was no one out on the roads, but the only thing Bora was focused on anyway was the ice. There was a ridiculous amount of it tonight, as there had been all week.  _ That _ made her nervous. Especially since she was driving at night. Even for being the great driver that she was, it still had “bad” written all over it. Siyeon sighed, and Bora had an itching feeling that she was going to start talking about nothing again.

“Why do you keep giving me short answers? Do you like keeping people in the dark or something?” she suddenly asked, sounding a bit agitated.

Bora just ignored her, but as she heard Siyeon take another breath, she realized that she’d made a mistake.

“I don’t understand why you’re like that. I--”

“You don’t have too.” Bora blatantly stated, wanting to shut her up before she started.

“I want too, though.”

“For what reason, I don’t know, but you’re wasting your time and breath.” she spoke seriously, keeping her eyes glued to the road, “I understand that it’s probably difficult since you have no friends, but that doesn’t mean you can try to make me into one of them.” 

“I don’t want to be friends with you.” 

“That’s the first logical thing I’ve heard you say in a while.” 

Siyeon just scoffed, but thankfully held her tongue.

Once they got to the school, Bora drove around the huge parking lot a few times. There were a few cars scattered all over it. For the most part, Bora knew what to look out for. He was an older guy and drove some old sedan. She spotted it after driving around for the third time. She parked a space away and waited. He was apparently still in the building. They weren’t supposed to “meet” until 12:45 p.m. He still had several minutes. 

“Can you open the glove compartment? Hand me the bag that’s in it.” Bora instructed.

Siyeon raised an eyebrow, but went to open the glove compartment as told. She pulled out a small black bag and handed it to her. Her eyes widened when Bora pulled out the small pistol inside of it. Bora felt her watching as she checked the chambers and made sure everything was okay. It didn’t have a silencer on it, much to Bora’s displeasure, but since the place was practically deserted, it didn’t really matter.

Bora kept her eyes peeled for the guy and, after a few more minutes, she spotted a tall man walking out the building. He stopped outside, looked around for a bit until he spotted Bora’s car. He briskly walked over, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Wait here. Don’t say or do anything. Just sit right here.” Bora instructed quietly before getting out her car, the pistol tucked away in her waistband.

The guy stopped in front of his own car and gave an awkward smile as Bora walked closer.

“Jaesung wasn’t kidding when he said you would be sexy.” he gave a tight smile, and it made Bora feel uncomfortable. 

The vibe she was getting from him was unsettling. He was dressed nicely and seemed like a normal guy, but there was something about him that was creepy. His round glasses didn’t help, either. He seemed like the type of professor that preyed on his students. In fact, Bora was sure that he did. The man had to be in his early forties, at the least. Bora played off his remark casually and just smiled.

“Who’s in the car?” he suddenly asked, eyeing Siyeon behind her.

“She’s a new recruit.” Bora lied smoothly, “I guess you could say I’m her mentor right now.”

“Like a ride-along type thing?” he cackled, “That’s neat.”

Bora just nodded in response.

“So… you have the stuff, right?” 

“Of course.”

She slowly reached for her gun. When she pulled it out and aimed, the guy grimaced heavily. Bora just smirked at the fear in his eyes. He started taking steps back slowly before suddenly turning around and running. Bora didn’t let him get far. She aimed and, with focused eyes, shot the gun. The loud bang echoed through the empty parking lot, drowning out his yell. He fell to the ground immediately. Bora stood and waited for a moment before putting her gun up and walking over to the dead mass. 

With her leather gloves on, she felt around for his wallet. Pulling it out of his back pocket, she took his ID before placing it back where she had got it from. She eyed the bullet hole that was cleanly placed in the middle of his neck. Blood was pooling from his throat under him, staining the snow. She looked around as she walked back to her car. There were two other cars in that section of the parking lot. Assuming that the owners of them were in the building, maybe the bastard would actually be discovered before his whole body froze or got covered by snow.

She exhaled, watching the cold air leave her own mouth as she got back in the car. She looked over to Siyeon and noticed her conflicted face. She looked like she was holding back tears. Bora looked away instantly, not wanting to even acknowledge her. Maybe she wouldn’t cry if she ignored her. 

She ended up doing it anyway. They were a good distance away, driving down the highway, when Bora began to hear Siyeon sniffling next to her. She sighed.

“Everyone meets their end at some point, one way or another. His actions had consequences, and he met his a bit early. Life is… good, right?” Bora honestly wasn’t sure what she was saying, but she was trying to be nice, “Just because it is, it doesn’t mean it matters. Death isn’t something you should cry about. You may not want to accept it, but his life was insignificant. All of ours are.” 

“Is this your twisted way of trying to make me feel better about watching someone just die right in front of me...?” 

“It’s not like it’s the first time you have… but yes. I suppose it is.”

It was silent for a few minutes after that. Siyeon collected herself for the most part, much to Bora’s surprise.

“Have you always felt that way...?” Siyeon piped up again, clearing her scratchy throat.

“Yes.”

Bora felt as if she was telling the truth, but knew she wasn’t.

“I almost believe you…”

“For the most part, I’m being honest. With my work, that’s something you have to accept.”

“How long have you--?”

“Since I was eighteen.”

Bora heard the almost silent “wow” leave Siyeon’s lips.

“W-- What was your first job like?” 

“Still feel like getting out of the house?” 

Siyeon nodded with curiosity in her eyes. Bora drew her attention back to the road and suddenly got off the highway. She wondered what she was doing as she drove through the practically empty city. She was tired and wanted to go home. Yet, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to indulge Siyeon’s curiosity a little. Plus, the last time Siyeon had actually gotten out of the house was when they’d gone out to a department store to get her more clothes. 

It took them twenty minutes, but Bora finally got to the school.

“Another college…?” Siyeon muttered quietly.

Bora drove around until she found the spot. 

“Come on.” she urged, turning the car off and getting out.

There was a lot more snow that had settled there. It was closer out to the rural areas of the city, and they always got more snow this time of year. She waited for Siyeon to get out of the car before she started walking across the parking lot under all the street lights. When she saw the spot she stopped. A small smile slowly crept up on her face, ignoring the painful cold air that was numbing everything.

“This is where I took my first job.” Bora started, feeling Siyeon come and stand next to her, “It was some college punk. He was getting in his car and he had no idea I was coming. It took two shots and then he was down.”

“And you’re telling me you didn’t feel bad...? You took away a boy’s life. He could’ve been the next Bill Gates or something…”

“He could’ve been.”

“You were smiling earlier too… after you shot that guy. You enjoy this!” Siyeon pointed out, sounding very hesitant, “You’re a sadist…!”

“Does it really seem like I get off on killing people?” she chuckled, watching the cold air in front of her, “It’s not like I do this for fun. I imagine if I’m anything, I’m a sociopath.”

“What’s that?” 

“The textbook definition is someone with a psychopathic personality who has antisocial and usually criminal behavior, who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.” 

“Oh.”

“I assure you, you wouldn’t see me smiling if I was offing an innocent person.” Bora looked over to her, “I don’t kill innocent people. Everyone I’m assigned to has done something wrong and I’m just the one giving the punishment. I suppose it may seem a bit crazy, enjoying that.”

“Is anyone really innocent...?” Siyeon mumbled, eyebrows furrowed.

“Most moral human beings like to think so.” 

Bora enjoyed the silence that followed. Snow started falling again. The campus wasn’t a university and was much smaller than the one they were just at. This campus was much more alluring, though. It was surrounded by trees. Even though they’d all lost their leaves already, the snow covered their bareness and made them look even better. Although Bora preferred the city over the country, she couldn’t deny the unique beauty rural areas had.

“I don’t think you’re a sociopath.” Siyeon randomly uttered and Bora looked at her again with an eyebrow raised, “Because if you were, then you would’ve killed me that night.”

Bora blinked, a bit surprised at her words. She had a seemingly solemn smile on her face, brown eyes somehow brighter than the street lights around. 

“If you knew me a bit more, knew some of the things I’ve done, I’m sure you wouldn’t say that as confidently.” 

“No.” Siyeon shook her head, her long hair swishing around, “I think I’m right.”

“I bet you do.” Bora laughed a bit, looking back out to the spot where her first target’s body hit.

“So, if you were eighteen when you first started, how old are you now?”

Bora just laughed again, more loudly this time, before turning on her heel. She began walking back to the car.

“I think I’ve shared enough with you already.” Bora called back, “Nice try, though.”

She heard Siyeon sigh before she heard the sound of her soft footsteps crunching in the snow.


	17. Chapter 17

“Here.”

Bora slid the bowl of kimchi fried rice down the table towards Siyeon. 

She’d gotten into the habit of cooking food now. She was actually beginning to enjoy it. Cooking for someone else felt much better than when she cooked for herself. Which, before Siyeon, she rarely ever did. The only thing she hated was cleaning up, but Siyeon did that for her, per her own request. 

“You’re not eating?” 

“I’m going to get ready to go.” 

“Where are you going?”

She heard the faint question, but she was already going up the stairs. She needed a shower. She’d been at base all day moving new shipments around and was beyond filthy. 

When she got home from doing random things at base, it’d be the same thing. She’d let Siyeon out of her room, let her shower, fed her, and, if Bora planned on staying at home for awhile, let her hang around the house. She often compared her to a cat because when she’d be in the living room, she’d usually just watch the snow from the window. Her expression would differ every day. Sometimes, she’d be watching with bright eyes, almost like a child home from school on a snow day. Other days, she’d seem quite solemn. Bora avoided her those days. 

Really, she tried to avoid her every day. 

As Bora was looking through her closet for a new set of clothes, she heard her enter the room.

“Where are you going?”

Her brow twitched as she moved hangers around, “Why are you in my room?”

“I’m just—”

“Get out.” 

Siyeon frowned, but retreated. Bora resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Siyeon took place in front of the threshold to her room. They’d had the discussion one too many times. Her room was off limits.

“Can I know where you’re going?” 

Bora ignored her and pulled out a simple black sweater, along with a pair of black jeans. She would’ve chosen sweatpants if she could’ve. Being cold _and_ tired was practically a death sentence. She sighed as she walked back out of her room, pushing Siyeon aside lightly as she did. She went to the bathroom and threw her clothes on the toilet seat before going back out. Siyeon let out a small “hey!” as she grabbed her and dragged her to her own bedroom, pushing her in.

“I have a job. I’ll be back shortly, but, hopefully, you’ll be asleep by then.” 

“Do you have to lock me in now? You’re still here!” Siyeon exclaimed, suddenly looking very desperate. 

“I won’t be for long.” 

With that Bora locked her in. 

She had a job. More or less. Minji wanted her to get rid of a loose end. It was no big deal. Wooyoung usually handled stuff like that, but he was out of town. So, Bora had to do it. One of their own, the chick was apparently making deals with other gangs in the area. Bora didn’t know the details and, since Minji was instructing it, she didn’t really care. 

She took a quick shower and, as soon as she was dressed, left.

The heavy snow was testing her love for it, that was for sure. Times like these were when she actually envied those people with huge SUVs, like Yoohyeon. None of the tires on her sports cars handled the snow very well.

Halfway there, she realized that it was too quiet. She smirked at her actions as she flicked the radio on, letting a CD play. She hadn’t driven with her often, but, when Siyeon did drive with her, she insisted on turning on music. Bora was beginning to become accustomed to it. 

It didn’t take her too long to arrive at base. 

Jaemin waved as Bora walked in the building, “Hey, Bora!” 

She’d never seen anyone be so happy to be a lookout. It was almost laughable. 

“Back already?” 

“For the moment.” Bora walked in to see Chae, who was carrying what seemed to be a computer monitor, “Did something happen?”

“Nah.” she grinned, “I just got a new one!” 

Bora nodded in approval before continuing her journey to Minji’s office.

Minji cracked a smile from her desk chair as she walked in, “I thought you may’ve frozen on your way over here.” 

“I was pretty close.” she sighed, “You ready?”

“Yep. She’s out back in the warehouse.” 

Bora followed her out of the office and they proceeded to go through the abandoned factory. Out back, there were four big warehouses. All of them used for different things. One of them was an armory. Which, it may not’ve been the smartest idea to keep the bulk of their weapons outside the main building, but they had no choice. At some point, they’d run out of room. Two of the warehouses kept old, empty shipment crates that got re-used regularly. The last one, the one they were on their way to, was what most called “the hell hole.” Anyone who went in that one usually never came back out. It was Wooyoung’s domain. They used it for their dirty work, whether it was a quick kill or torture. It all happened there.

Bora eyed the ropes securely tied around the woman’s ankles and arms, one of them even going around her waist and the back of the chair. She was actually quite surprised, but shouldn’t have expected any less from Minji.

“Good, huh?” 

Bora kept walking into the room towards the woman restrained in the chair. If looks could kill, she probably would’ve been dead. The chick was visibly tense, glaring at Bora as she came closer. Bora wondered if she’d put up a fight. She walked straight past her to the table against the back wall. There were all sorts of Wooyoung’s “toys” scattered all across it. Most of them blood-stained, she shook her head at the thought of the things he used them for. She wouldn’t be able to do what he did. She was pretty sure of that. Nothing about piercing through someone’s hand with a screwdriver and listening to them scream bloody murder sounded appealing to her. 

She picked up a simple handgun, wishing she had just brought her own. 

“Should be loaded.” Minji called from the other side of the warehouse.

She checked the clip in it anyway, just as a force of habit, before walking back to the chick. She pushed the barrel of the gun against the back of her lower neck and looked at Minji. She nodded. 

Bora looked back down to the woman sitting in front of her, “Nothing to say?”

“Why the fuck would I have anything to say, Bora?” she spit, straining to look back at her. 

“I admire your dignity.” 

“Fu—”

**_BANG!_ **

The reasoning behind her aim was the lesser amount of blowback the shot caused. There was definitely quite a bit of blood, but it would’ve been a mess if Bora had shot her brains out.

“Do you mind moving her?” 

“If you help me cut through these ridiculous boy scout knots.” Bora laughed, going back to the table to get rid of the gun and grab two knives.

She handed one to Minji as she walked over and they began cutting the lifeless woman free. They sliced through the ropes in silence and, once she was free, Minji took the two knives back. Her clothes were already stained with blood, so Bora didn’t hesitate to pick the body up and carry it outside. She walked across the snow covered pavement, a trail of red following behind her, to the industrial-sized dumpster. It was a bit tough, but she tossed her body in with ease. The loud thump against the metal echoed outside. Once Wooyoung came back, he’d get rid of her. Bodies never stayed in there long. When she walked back to the warehouse, Minji was waiting outside for her.

“You know, you didn’t have to watch.” Bora muttered, trying to read her blank expression.

“It’s a healthy reminder.” 

She just nodded. 

“Are you heading home now?” 

“Is there anything else you need me to do?”

“No. I think I’m going to be heading home as well…” Minji gave a short chuckle, “I should’ve been home two hours ago.” 

“Things still rocky?” 

“Somewhat... I’m trying.” Minji sighed, “I had to turn my phone off she was calling me so much earlier and sending me texts asking where the hell I was.”

“You should take a break.” 

“You act like that’s possible.”

“Take a vacation with her, even if it’s just for the weekend. That’ll calm her down.” Bora insisted, “You know what she wants. Give it to her.”

“Maybe I’ll take her somewhere for Christmas…” 

Bora held the main door open for her as they left.

“Bye, Bora! Goodbye, Minji-ssi!” Jaemin called out to them as they walked outside.

Bora couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm. 

“It’s nice to be greeted like that when I get here. What can I say?” Minji shrugged, her lips curving up slightly at her reaction, “He’s a good kid.”

“Call Mina and let her know you’re coming home.” Bora gave Minji’s shoulder a soft pat before walking off towards her car.

“Goodnight, Bora.”

“Goodnight, Minji-ssi!” she smirked, and Minji laughed loudly at the imitation.

It was almost 11:00 PM when she arrived back home. She parked back in her garage and sat in her car, enjoying the heated space. Realizing she was wasting time and risking falling asleep covered in blood and in her car, she finally got out. She didn’t have to endure the chilling air long and was quickly inside the comfortable environment of her house. She didn’t bother turning any of the lights on as she made her way to the staircase. She stripped out of her sweater as she walked down the hallway upstairs and towards the bathroom. She tossed it on the shower curtain rod and let it hang there. She was honestly too lazy to wash anything tonight. If the stains didn’t come out, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t buy new stuff. She kicked off her boots and pants as well, throwing them over the rod too. 

As she was about to step into her room, she heard Siyeon call for her.

“Bora!”

She sighed, pausing momentarily in her doorway before getting the key to Siyeon’s room off her dresser. 

“I thought you were going to ignore me.” she mumbled as Bora opened the door. Her eyes widened and she suddenly directed her gaze straight up at Bora’s face, “Why are you naked?”

Bora became confused for a second until she looked herself over and realized. She had completely forgotten the fact that she was only in her bra and underwear. 

She was tired. 

“I have clothes on, but I was about to go to bed until you called me.” Bora explained nonchalantly, “What do you want?”

Siyeon looked highly uncomfortable and that made her smirk a bit.

“If you don’t tell me what you want, I’ll be on my way.” 

“I— I have to go to the bathroom.” 

Bora stepped aside and let Siyeon scurry by. She leaned back against the doorframe and waited for her to finish. After a minute, she came back out and practically ran past Bora with her eyes glued to the ground.

“Goodnight!”

  
Siyeon closed the door herself, and Bora just stood there, unsure if the blur that just flew past her was really Siyeon or not. She just shook her head and locked the bedroom door back.


End file.
